視…而定grammar point · tier 2 · 視…而定 — decided in reference to (the verdict varies with a named factor)
A formal frame that holds a decision or value open and lets it be fixed by a named factor: it is decided according to X. The factor sits inside, between 視 and 而定.
字源 FORM what the parts do
視 opens the frame: an eye on legs (見) does the looking, 示 on loan for the sound. 而 is a borrowed graph, drooping beard-whiskers pressed into the joining word. 定 closes it: 正 set straight under a roof (宀), settled. The deciding factor sits in the gap; the looking lands on it, and 而定 lets the verdict settle to match.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A verdict hangs unfixed in the air. The gaze swings to one named thing and rests there; whatever it finds, the verdict drops to match. Change the thing it rests on and the verdict moves with it.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[varying outcome/value] 視 [deciding factor] 而定
觸 · Trigger
An outcome or value is not fixed on its own; you want to say it is settled by reference to some named factor, in formal or written register.
序 · The move
1Name the outcome or value that varies and is not fixed yet: a price, a length, a decision, a number.Does it genuinely change depending on something, rather than being a settled fact?
2Put 視 after it, then drop the deciding factor into the gap — a noun (地點) or a noun phrase (情況); 主要 may sit before 視.Is the factor the thing the verdict tracks, not the agent doing the deciding?
3Close with 而定, finishing the frame.Is 而定 at the very end of the clause, with the factor wedged inside between 視 and 而定 — not after 定?
例 · Examples
1房子的價格jiàgé — price (the varying value held open)主要zhǔyào — mainly視地點和大小location and size (the deciding factors, set inside the frame)而定。
A house's price is fixed mainly in reference to location and size.
Same job, opposite register and shape. 看 is colloquial and puts the factor after it (要看天氣). 視…而定 is formal and written, and wedges the factor inside the frame (視天氣而定). The factor is the close in 看, the filling in 視…而定.
根據 fronts the evidence you reason from, then states any conclusion or action (根據資料判斷). 視…而定 specifically yields a value or decision that varies with the factor — it does not state a separate action, the verdict is the close.
按照 names a fixed rule the action conforms to (按照規定辦) — the standard does not change. 視…而定 names a factor the outcome varies with — change the factor and the outcome changes.
✗ 價格視而定地點 (factor stranded after 定) → ✓ 價格視地點而定 (the factor sits inside, between 視 and 而定)
✗ 房子的價格根據地點而定 → ✓ 房子的價格視地點而定 (the varying-value frame is 視…而定, not 根據…而定)
✗ 視天氣決定要不要去 (spoken, factor after the verb) → ✓ 去不去要看天氣 colloquially, or 是否成行視天氣而定 in formal register
English 'depends on' / 'is determined by' is a single verb phrase with the factor after it. Learners place the factor after 定 (視而定 + factor) or reach for 根據/按照, missing that 視…而定 is a split frame that brackets the factor in the middle.