Breakdown of Zhè piān wénzhāng nèiróng bù cháng, dànshì zhòngdiǎn hěn qīngchu.
Questions & Answers about Zhè piān wénzhāng nèiróng bù cháng, dànshì zhòngdiǎn hěn qīngchu.
In Chinese, nouns that are counted usually need a measure word (also called a classifier) between the number/demonstrative and the noun.
- 这篇文章 (zhè piān wénzhāng) = this article / this essay
- 篇 (piān) is the measure word used for pieces of writing, such as 文章 (wénzhāng, article/essay), 日记 (rìjì, diary entry), 小说 (xiǎoshuō, short story/novel), etc.
You generally cannot say 这文章 in standard written Chinese; you should say 这篇文章. (In some casual spoken contexts, people might drop the measure word, but you should learn the correct form with 篇.)
- 文章 means article / essay / written text as a whole.
- 内容 means content, i.e., what is inside the article (the ideas, information, points).
In 这篇文章内容不长, the focus is on the content of the article, not the physical object itself. Translating very literally:
- 这篇文章内容不长 ≈ “The content of this article is not long.” You could also say 这篇文章不长, which would be understood, but 文章内容不长 is a little more explicit and natural in contexts like evaluating length and clarity.
Both forms are possible:
- 这篇文章内容不长
- 这篇文章的内容不长
文章内容 works as a kind of compound noun: article-content, meaning “the content of the article.” When a noun–noun combination is very tight and common, Chinese often omits 的.
Adding 的 (文章的内容) makes the possessive relationship more explicit: “the article’s content.” It’s slightly more formal or careful, but the meaning is the same here. Both are correct and natural.
长 (cháng) can refer to length in space or in extent, and by extension, to duration in time.
In 内容不长, it means the amount/length of content is not large (e.g. it’s a short article, not a lot of text). This is similar to English using “long” for both physical length and duration (“a long book,” “a long movie”).
So here:
- 内容长 = the content is long (a lot of text/detail).
- 内容不长 = the content is not long (relatively short).
Both are possible, but they feel a bit different:
- 内容不长 = “the content is not long.”
This is a mild, neutral statement; it often implies “it’s reasonably short / it won’t take long.” - 内容很短 = “the content is very short.”
This emphasizes shortness more strongly; it can feel like “it’s really short,” which might sound slightly more evaluative.
In many contexts where you want to reassure the reader or speak neutrally, 不长 is softer and more typical than 很短.
不 (bù) is a general negation word placed before adjectives and most verbs.
- 长 (cháng) = long
- 不长 (bù cháng) = not long
Syntactically, it’s “negative adverb + adjective,” not a single lexical word, but it behaves very tightly and is often thought of as a unit when you’re reading and listening.
Pattern:
- 不 + adjective → 不高 (not tall), 不贵 (not expensive), 不难 (not hard), etc.
但是 is a conjunction meaning “but / however.” It links two clauses with a contrast:
- 内容不长 = The content is not long,
- 但是重点很清楚 = but the key points are very clear.
In everyday use:
- 但是 and 可是 are very close in meaning; 但是 can sound a bit more formal or written, 可是 a bit more colloquial, but both are acceptable here.
- 不过 is also “but/however,” often with a slightly softer or “by the way” feel.
You could replace 但是 with 可是 or 不过 without changing the basic meaning:
- …内容不长，不过重点很清楚。
In Chinese, adjectives often need some kind of degree adverb (like 很) when used as predicates (after the subject) to sound natural. Without it, the sentence can sound either incomplete or contrastive.
- 重点很清楚 is natural and means roughly “the main points are (very/quite) clear.”
- If you say just 重点清楚, it can sound abrupt or like you’re contrasting: “The main points are clear (as opposed to something else).” It’s not impossible, but it’s less neutral.
Also, 很 does not always strongly mean “very”.
In many neutral statements, 很 functions almost like a “linker” that softens the predicate:
- 他很高。 Often = “He’s tall.” (not necessarily “VERY tall”)
- 重点很清楚。 Often = “The key points are clear.” (not strongly “very” unless context emphasizes it)
So here 很 can be read as either “very” or just a natural way to state a quality.
重点 literally: 重 (zhòng, heavy/important) + 点 (diǎn, point).
It usually means:
- main points,
- key points,
- important aspects/focus.
In context, 重点很清楚 means “the main points are very clear,” or “the focus is very clear.” The sentence is saying that although the article is short, it gets the important points across clearly.
清楚 means clear, in the sense of easy to understand, not confusing.
It can function as:
- An adjective:
- 重点很清楚。 = “The main points are clear.”
- A sort of result/complement of an action:
- 他说明白了 / 他说得很清楚。 = “He explained it clearly.” / “He spoke very clearly.”
In 重点很清楚, it’s an adjective describing the noun 重点.
The sentence has two coordinated clauses joined by 但是:
这篇文章内容不长，
- Topic/subject: 这篇文章内容 (the content of this article)
- Comment: 不长 (is not long)
但是重点很清楚。
- Subject: 重点 (the main points)
- Predicate: 很清楚 (are very clear)
So the structure is:
- [The article’s content is not long], but [its main points are very clear].
This is a common pattern in Chinese: Topic + comment, then 但是 + contrasting comment.
You’re right that 长 is a polyphonic character:
- cháng → “long” (adjective)
- e.g. 很长 (very long), 时间不长 (the time is not long)
- zhǎng → “to grow / chief / head (of something)”
- e.g. 长大 (to grow up), 校长 (principal), 部长 (minister)
In 内容不长, it clearly means “not long”, so the pronunciation must be cháng. The meaning (length) tells you which reading is correct.