始终 和 一直
始终: from start to finish, never changing; 一直: all along, continuously; straight on
Structure
主语 始终 （不／没／是）… （从头到尾没有变） · 主语 一直 动词 （一段时间里没有停） · 一直 往／到…
What it means
Both mean “all along”. 始终 stresses that nothing changed from start to finish; 一直 is the everyday word for “continuously”, and also “straight on”.
How it is built
始终 + 不／没／是…: 我始终没想明白 (I never did work it out). 一直 + verb: 从早上一直忙到晚上 (busy from morning till night); 一直往前走 (go straight on).
When to use it
In many past sentences either works: 他一直／始终没来. 始终 is a little more formal and likes negatives or 是. 一直 suits short, ordinary stretches (昨天我一直在家). 始终 is also a noun, “beginning and end”: 贯彻始终.
Watch out
✗ 始终忙到晚上 ✓ 一直忙到晚上: only 一直 can name where a stretch ends. ✗ 始终往前走 ✓ 一直往前走: only 一直 points the way.
Examples
她在车间里干了三十多年，技术始终是最好的。
She spent over thirty years on the shop floor, and her skills were the best from start to finish.
多年来，女性在全国就业人员中的比重一直在四成以上。
For many years women have made up more than forty per cent of everyone in work.
这道题我想了一晚上，始终没想明白。
I thought about this problem all evening and never did work it out.
你一直往前走，看到银行再往左拐。
Go straight on and turn left when you see the bank.
Learn this in Lesson 50 · HSK 5–6: 半边天 (Women hold up half the sky)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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