是非曲直

shì fēi qū zhí

the rights and wrongs of a matter

Character by character

是shì
right

非fēi
wrong

曲qū
crooked

直zhí
straight

先别急着发火，把事情的是非曲直弄清楚再说。

Don’t lose your temper yet; get the rights and wrongs of it clear first.

Tone: neutral.

Usually the object of 弄清, 分清, 辨明 or 讲清楚, and a favourite of judgments and editorials: 是非曲直，自有公论.

Learn this in Lesson 121 · HSK 7–9: 电梯劝烟案 (Court report: the lift smoking case)

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.