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Because of the word "于" here, I have a hard time understanding this sentence.

这是天地不容于此的缘故.

In my attempt to understand it, I've searched for a few similar sentences to be compared. Unfortunately, the word "于" seems to have different meanings in each sentence (I might be wrong).

  1. 专业出版许多移民因感到不容于社会而苦恼
  2. 曲高和寡不容于世

I assume in these it means 'by'. (1. Professionals state that immigrants are vexed because they felt they're not accepted by the society? 2. Geniuses/highbrows aren't tolerated by the world?)

  1. 白鸟哀婉，不容于天之澄碧，亦不容于海之幽蓝.

I feel the "于" in this sentence is the most similar with the one in my original sentence, so I'm not sure about its meaning.

So, my questions are:

  1. What does the "于" in my original sentence mean?

  2. Is "于" necessary when I used "不容"?

  3. Does the usage of "于" always turn the sentence into passive voices (the translations) as it does in example 1 and 2?

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12
  • 这是天地不容于此的缘故 doesn't look grammatical. Do you have more context?
    – dan
    Nov 3, 2018 at 4:43
  • Need context. Because I think it is some bad mimicry of Wenyanwen or literary style. It doesn't make sense.
    – Toosky Hierot
    Nov 3, 2018 at 4:58
  • And your example 1 and 3 need context, too╮(￣▽￣)╭
    – Toosky Hierot
    Nov 3, 2018 at 5:01
  • It's from a passage from a webnovel. It's talking about Dao, the full sentence is "万物皆有枯荣,我们想要跳出万物,即为逆天,因此,修仙大成,便有劫要度,这是天地不容于此的缘故." I understand the rest but the "于" in the last phrase confused me. @dan
    – Fai91
    Nov 3, 2018 at 7:16
  • 1
    @Fai91 Many people try to use prepositions the way in 文言文 in their writing, but due to their paucity of classical Chinese knowledge, often they form incorrect sentences, in the sense of either modern or classical Chinese. By the way, the excerpt is logically incoherent. I shall put it as “万物皆有荣枯，此乃天道。而我们想要超脱万物生灭之常伦，即是行逆天之举。因此，修仙大成乃天地所不容，故而有劫要度。”
    – Toosky Hierot
    Nov 3, 2018 at 8:59

2 Answers 2

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于 here means 对于 or 针对于. In English, it can be to, towards, with regard to, upon, etc.

这是天地不容于此的缘故 can be paraphrased as 这就是为什么天地对于这样的事情不宽容的原因.

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  • 1
    @TooskyHierot 宽容他人 Vs 对于他人的宽容. Both sound ok. 如果你硬要说"对于他人的宽容"是错的，我也没办法。 😳
    – dan
    Nov 3, 2018 at 10:28
  • 好吧ヽ( ￣д￣;)ノ……我最终查证了一下。对……宽容之中的 对 并非介词用法（或者说，以为它是介词这件事情就是我所说的什么都是对付对这件事情之根源）。其实 对……宽容 中 对 应该作 对待 讲。对我宽容的完整的说法应该是：以宽容之心对待我，即便要缩减也该是，宽容对我。至于为什么 对 挪到前面，可能就是因为当介词了。
    – Toosky Hierot
    Nov 3, 2018 at 10:38
  • 我于是删掉了之前的评论。但是刚才突然注意到“这就是为什么”和“……的原因”是不能同用的。（对于……的宽容 我还是难以接受(´-ω-`)）
    – Toosky Hierot
    Nov 3, 2018 at 10:41
  • @TooskyHierot 没关系，求同存异嘛！
    – dan
    Nov 3, 2018 at 11:05
  • @TooskyHierot 我头痛.... <(TT_TT)>
    – Fai91
    Nov 3, 2018 at 13:42
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于 in your first sentence means 在。

Therefore, 不容于此 means would not be contained here, although this sentence seems weird without context.

于 is not necessary for 不容，for example, you could say

这样的行为绝对不容姑息

And it means actions like this will never be allowed in any sense.

于 is neutral, you would also see

我生于 1997 年

It simply means I was born in 1997 and has not emotional implication.

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2
  • 这是天地不容于此的缘故 = This is the reason why the world wouldn't be contained here? It's still in active voice form then?
    – Fai91
    Nov 3, 2018 at 2:27
  • @Fai91 The sentence is neutral, but its meaning is weird. Are you trying to translate a web fiction?
    – zyy
    Nov 3, 2018 at 14:07

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