Locate a relation
於 introduces a relation to a place, person, circumstance, or comparison standard. English may require “in”, “at”, “to”, “from”, “than”, or another relation. Certain predicates also permit an agent relation.
於
A reading procedure
- Identify the predicate linked to 於.
- Identify the following noun phrase.
- Use the predicate and context to determine the relation.
於 and 于 are not a universal license for silent character substitution; preserve the edition’s spelling.
Compare
Search finds spelling; it does not automatically label every occurrence with this construction.
zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes · Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Evidence and further study
Linked passages below provide the primary-text evidence for these editorial examples. The readings are not borrowed from, or endorsed by, the further-study references.
Kanseki Repository · pinned primary text witnesses
Textual evidence. Individual examples link to exact source files and lines.
Edwin G. Pulleyblank · Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar
Further study: word order, predication, nominalization, negation and complex sentences. Book content is not reproduced.
Robert Eno · Introduction to Literary Chinese, Part I
Further study: an academic primer with annotated readings and exercises. Not imported.
Introduction to Classical Chinese · Schonebaum and contributors
Further study: function words and reading lessons. CC BY-NC-SA material is not imported into this dataset.
Thesaurus Linguae Sericae
Further research: contextual historical senses and syntactic analysis. No TLS annotation import in this release.
16 examples in context
夫子至於是邦也
When the Master arrives in a state such as this.
至 is related to its destination by 於. The following 也 helps frame the clause before the comment about hearing its government. 是 here identifies the state; it is not the modern copula “is”.
Check your reading · What is the complement of 至於?
是邦, the state reached.
信近於義
Trustworthiness comes close to what is right.
近 supplies a relational predicate, and 於 introduces the standard 義. The passage discusses when a commitment can be fulfilled. Do not read 於 as a physical location just because “at” is a common dictionary gloss.
Check your reading · What relation does 於 introduce?
The standard to which trustworthiness is said to be close.
王立於沼上
The king stood by the pond.
於 introduces the location 沼上. The spatial term 上 is read within a conventional location phrase; an English “on top of the pond” would misleadingly impose a literal vertical position.
Check your reading · What kind of relation does 於 introduce here?
A location.
王如知此，則無望民之多於鄰國也
If the king understands this, he should not expect his people to outnumber those of neighboring states.
如 introduces a condition, 則 its consequence. Within the expected situation, 多於 sets a comparison. The line combines several structures; a simple search for 於 alone cannot identify the complete argument.
Check your reading · What is compared by 多於?
The size of the king’s population with that of neighboring states.
勞力者治於人
Those who labor with physical strength are governed by others.
勞力者 is the affected group, 治 the action, and 於人 supplies the agent relation. Contrast a simple locative 於 such as 立於沼上. The sentence expresses a social doctrine in the text, not a recommendation from zimai.
Check your reading · What relation does 於人 express in this clause?
The agent of governing: other people.
鵬之徙於南冥也
When the Peng moves to the southern darkness.
鵬 and 徙 form a subject–predicate relation linked by 之. 於南冥 names the destination. The resulting clause establishes a frame for the following account of the journey; an isolated possessive “Peng’s” is incomplete.
Check your reading · What role does 於南冥 play inside the framed clause?
It specifies the destination of 徙.
青、取之於藍而青於藍
Blue dye is taken from indigo, yet is bluer than indigo.
The first 於 introduces the source; the second gives a comparison standard. The repeated graph therefore does different work within one sentence. The craft example supports a claim about learning and transformation, not a botanical definition of 青.
Check your reading · Do the two instances of 於 express the same relation?
No: source in 取之於藍, comparison in 青於藍.
君子役物，小人役於物
The exemplary person puts things to use; the petty person is put to use by things.
The balanced clauses reverse the relation between person and things. In the second clause 於物 supplies the agent-like relation in a passive reading. The surrounding passage concerns priorities and self-cultivation, so 物 is broader than physical tools alone.
Check your reading · What changes between the two clauses?
Who controls whom: the person directs things in the first, but is directed by them in the second.
天下之難事必作於易，天下之大事必作於細
The world's difficult affairs necessarily begin in what is easy; its great affairs begin in what is small.
The repeated structure places 易 and 細 after 於 as starting conditions. This passage is introduced by 故曰 and closely matches Laozi 63, but the pinned witnesses differ in their use of 之. Preserve that difference when comparing instead of silently normalizing the text.
Check your reading · What sort of relation does 於 express in these clauses?
The small or easy starting point from which an affair develops.
君無術則弊於上，臣無法則亂於下
Without administrative technique the ruler is compromised above; without standards the ministers produce disorder below.
The paired 則 clauses assign different deficiencies to ruler and ministers. The preceding definitions distinguish 術 from 法, so their combination should not be collapsed into one English word such as law. 於上 and 於下 locate the failures within the hierarchy.
Check your reading · Why retain separate labels for 術 and 法?
The argument assigns them different administrative roles and says both are needed.
己所不欲，勿施於人
Do not impose on others what you yourself do not want.
所不欲 forms the object-like topic picked up by the instruction. 勿 makes the clause a prohibition and 於人 identifies the recipient. The formula needs its interpersonal setting; it is not a claim that everyone shares precisely the same desires.
Check your reading · What distinguishes 勿 here from a description of what does not happen?
It directs the addressee not to act.
多識於鳥獸草木之名
Become acquainted with many names of birds, beasts, grasses, and trees.
The phrase is part of a longer account of what studying the Poems can enable. 之 links the natural kinds to their names; 於 relates 識 to that field of knowledge. The line supports lexical attention without reducing the earlier claims about poetry to memorizing labels.
Check your reading · What larger activity supplies the context for learning these names?
Study of the Poems, discussed in the preceding sentences.
圖難於其易也，為大於其細也
Plan for difficulty while it is still easy; address what is great while it is still small.
The 於 phrases locate action at an early condition, and 其 links that condition to the developing affair. The following maxim supplies the reason: great and difficult matters have small and easy beginnings. Read the paired temporal logic before applying the advice to a modern task.
Check your reading · What do 易 and 細 have in common in this argument?
They identify the earlier conditions at which intervention is possible.
相濡以沫，不如相忘於江湖
Moistening one another with foam is less good than forgetting one another in rivers and lakes.
相 makes both actions reciprocal. 以沫 names the means of emergency aid, while 於江湖 gives the setting of the contrasting condition. The comparison is made from the story of fish on dry land; it should not be detached into a simple prohibition on helping others.
Check your reading · Why does the stranded-fish setting matter?
It distinguishes emergency dependence from the more sustaining condition imagined in the second clause.
用志不分，乃凝於神
When attention is not divided, it becomes concentrated to a remarkable degree.
乃 presents the result of focused attention. The preceding story of catching cicadas supplies the practice behind the maxim. 神 is interpretively rendered here; the statement should not be turned into a verified neurological mechanism or a claim of supernatural power.
Check your reading · What concrete activity gives the sentence its setting?
The practiced skill of catching cicadas described in the preceding story.
必取於人知敵之情者也
It must be obtained from people who know the enemy's actual situation.
者 closes the description 知敵之情 and identifies the human source of knowledge. The opening of the sentence rejects several other routes to foreknowledge. This is a claim about intelligence gathering in the chapter's setting, not a general proof that testimony is always accurate.
Check your reading · What qualifies the people from whom knowledge is to be obtained?
They know the enemy's actual situation; the description is closed by 者.