句
Chinese character display

Reading preferences

Settings

Appearance

System follows your device and updates automatically.

Chinese font

Choose the typeface used for Chinese sentences in study and deck views.

All three fonts are bundled with Chinese Sentences, so your choice works offline.

Data & backup

Export reviews, lists, mined sentences, source context, and preferences. Importing replaces the current local data on this device.

Back to grammar

B1 · Grammar reference

Using "always" as a complaint with "laoshi"

We have a few ways to say "always" in Chinese, and one of them is to use the word 老是 (lǎoshì). 老是 is usually used in the context of a complaint, like how your sister is "always" hogging the bathroom.

Structure

老 (是) + Predicate

Keywords
老是 · 老 · 是 · always
Used for
Expressing frequency · Expressing attitude
Classification
Adverbs · HSK3

Examples (11)

你怎么老是加班?

那个孩子老说脏话。

你怎么老是不高兴?

你儿子上课的时候老是说话。

这个老师老是这么严肃。

别老是抱怨。

这个机器老是出问题。

他经常迟到,还老是找借口。

奶奶老是忘带钥匙。

你老是这么凶干吗?

他真讨厌,老是跟朋友借钱。

Further resources

Learn from another explanation

No editorial pick yet for this exact pattern.

Editorial picks are checked for a close topic match. Search results and external content belong to their publishers and may change.

Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

Related points