| 不是鱼死就是网破 |
bù shì yú sǐ jiù shì wǎng pò |
lit. either the fish dies or the net gets torn (idiom) / fig. it's a life-and-death struggle / it's either him or me |
| 不 |
bù |
no; not so / (bound form) not; un- |
| 不是 |
bù shì |
no / is not / not |
| 不是 |
bù shi |
fault; blame |
| 是 |
shì |
to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion) |
| 是 |
shì |
variant of 是 |
| 鱼 |
Yú |
surname Yu |
| 鱼 |
yú |
fish (CL:条,尾) / used in the names of various aquatic animals that are not fish (including abalone 鲍鱼, alligators and crocodiles 鳄鱼 and octopi 章鱼) |
| 死 |
sǐ |
to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned |
| 就 |
jiù |
(after a suppositional clause) in that case; then / (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after / (same as 就是) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precisely; exactly / only; as little as / as much as; as many as / to approach; to move towards / to undertake; to engage in / (often followed by 着) taking advantage of / (of food) to go with / with regard to; concerning / (pattern: 就 ... 也 ...) even if ... still ... / (pattern: 不 ... 就 ...) if not ... then must be ... |
| 就是 |
jiù shì |
exactly; precisely / only; simply; just / (used correlatively with 也) even; even if |
| 是 |
shì |
to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion) |
| 是 |
shì |
variant of 是 |
| 网 |
wǎng |
net / network |
| 破 |
pò |
broken / damaged / worn out / lousy / rotten / to break, split or cleave / to get rid of / to destroy / to break with / to defeat / to capture (a city etc) / to expose the truth of |