晓之以理
xiǎo zhī yǐ lǐ
to reason with someone; to make someone see sense
Character by character
晓xiǎo
enlighten
enlighten
之zhī
him
him
以yǐ
by
by
理lǐ
reason
reason
Example
对待闹情绪的孩子，光批评没有用，得动之以情，晓之以理。
Scolding a sulky child gets you nowhere; you have to appeal to their feelings and reason with them.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
Usually paired with 动之以情 (move them with feeling), in either order. 之 is the classical “him, them”, 以 “by means of”. Common in accounts of persuasion, mediation and education; the person being persuaded is never named inside the phrase.
Learn this in Lesson 129 · HSK 7–9: 老小区加装电梯 (Putting lifts into old blocks)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.
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