Taxonomy of meanings for 矣:　　

  • yǐ (OC: ɢɯʔ MC: ɦɨ) 于紀切 上 廣韻：【説文云語巳詞也于紀切二 】
  • MODAL PARTICLES
    • ppostadSimperativemarker of (probably mild) imperative sentences
    • ppostadS1.post-S2S1=apodosisMOVE TO "THEN" sentence-final particle after apodosis of conditional
    • ppostadV.+N{SUBJ}psych甚矣吾衰也！emphatic sentence-internal post-verbal modal particle
    • ppostadV1.adV2exclamatory鮮矣仁　particle placed after an emphatic focussed adverbial (which one might even suspect of being a transposed main verb)
    • ppostadS"the currently relevant point is": modal particle marking new or currently particularly relevant statement (like 了)
    • ppostadSuntensed我知之矣“I'm perfectly aware of it!": "surely, definitely" mildly exclamatory/emphatic
    • ppostadVtemporalperfective: then, at that time, definitelyCH
    • ppostadStensed吾老矣　"by now; at this stage; under these circumstances": currently relevant verbal statement; new situation, tensed
    • ppostadN{PRED}N=counted Nmarks a nominal predicate as definitely applyingCH
    • ppostadVlogically則...矣 "then ... und thoseconditions definitely": definitively (under the logical conditions)CH
    • apodosis to conditional> IF
      • ppostadS1.adS2after protasis of conditionalperfective modal particle marking the conditional clause
      • counter to fact> COUNTERFACTUAL
        • ppostadS1.post-S2marker of the apodosis in a counterfactual conditional sentence.CH
      • temporal> THEN
        • ppostadS1.post-S2modal particle marking that S1 obtains when S2 obtains: then, under these conditionsCH
        • ppostadS1.post-S2則S矣：final particle after the apodosis S1 of a conditional or temporal subordinate clause S2LZ
    • temporal> QUESTION PARTICLES
      • ppostadS1.post-S2marking the apodosis in a question that is a conditional sentence.CH

    Additional information about 矣

    說文解字: 【矣】，語巳詞也。从矢、(以)[㠯]聲。 〔小徐本「以」作「㠯」。〕 【于巳切】

      Criteria
    • MODAL PARTICLES

      也 is judgmental and judgmentally descriptive, never narrative: "it is the case that; the point is that"矣 narrative or narratively descriptive and marks to a currently new, currently relevant or currently conditioned narrative statement.已 is judgmental as well as emphatic or definitive: "definitively!, definitely"而已 is decisive and exclusive of alternatives: "and that is all".耳 is a less emphatic 而已.爾 is a scribal variant for 耳 and writes the same word.哉 is emphatic and marks emotionally charged statements: "!".夫 =否乎 is tentative and marks statements the truth of which is held to open to doubt: "n'est-ce pas?"

    • DECIDE

      1. The most common general word for making a decision is duàn 斷, which emphasis the definitiveness of what has been decided on, but speaks of the process by which that final decision is being reached rather than the result as such.

      2. Jué 決 focusses on the the result as such, and the word can be used about decisons already made where duàn 斷 seems excluded. ( 事已決 not: 事已斷矣 )

      3. Dìng 定 refers to the fixing something not only for oneself but primarily for others. See FIX

      4. Cái 裁 refers to the action of making a public decision as taken by a person in authority.

    • ALREADY

      [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

      1. Yǐ 已 (ant. wèi 未 "not yet") is the general current word for "already", and this word can precede nominal predicates ( 在位已十年矣 "for already 10 years" analysed as vadN), jì 既 cannot be so used.

      [GENERAL]

      2. Jì 既 (ant. wèi 未 "not yet") is limited to subordinate clauses, yǐ 已 has no such limitations of distribution in this respect. Jì 既 can only be used in front of VPs expressing a clearly concluded development which the word declares to have been completed; yǐ 已 can also mark that something has already STARTED. See also AFTERWARDS

      [SPECIFIC]

    • ZERO

      1. 無 x 直 means "the value of X is zero". JZ 8.8: 下無錢直 "below there is no coin value, i.e. there is zero.

      2. 虛缺　JZ 8.8 於下實虛缺矣 "below, the dividend, having been empty, now involves a lack> is negative