一口氣grammar point · tier 1 · adverbial 一口氣 (in one go, without pausing)
· yīkǒuqì
Adverbial before the verb: the whole action runs through without a break, often covering a large quantity.
字源 FORM what the parts do
一 counts one; 口 is the open mouth, one intake of air through it; 氣 writes breath — 气 carries the sound, 米 the grain the graph first wrote before the air sense borrowed it whole. One breath, named by the mouth that takes it and the count of one.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
One breath drawn in, and the whole stretch passes before the next breath is taken.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[subj] 一口氣 [verb + quantity / completion]
觸 · Trigger
The action covered a large stretch start-to-finish with no pause; stress that it never broke.
序 · The move
1Place 一口氣 right before the verb, after the subject.Is it sitting where an adverb sits, not as the object?
2Attach the quantity or completion to the verb — how far, how much, done.Does the verb carry a measured load (五千公尺 / 完) the single breath spans?
3Read it back as one unbroken stretch.Would a pause anywhere break the claim? If a pause fits, 一口氣 is wrong.
例 · Examples
1他一口氣in one go跑run了completed五千公尺five thousand metres。
He ran five thousand metres in one go, without stopping.
了1 marks that the action completed; 一口氣 adds that it ran straight through with no pause. 了 alone permits stops along the way.
他一口氣了跑五千公尺。 → 他一口氣跑了五千公尺。 (一口氣 goes before the verb, not after; 了 attaches to the verb)
他喝水一口氣。 → 他一口氣喝水。 (adverbial leads the verb phrase, not trails the object)
他一口氣休息。 → 他一口氣跑完了。 (needs an action that can run unbroken with a load, not a pause-state like 休息)
English 'in one breath' is figurative for fast speech; 一口氣 is literal for any unbroken stretch — running, drinking, finishing a book — and sits before the verb, not at the end.