Classical grammar words in the Dao De Jing
哉 zāi
In the Dao De Jing, 哉 (zāi) is a final particle of feeling, used 7 times: it ends an exclamation or, after a question word such as 何 or 岂, a question asked with feeling.
哉 is a final particle of strong feeling. After a statement it makes an exclamation; after a question word such as 何 “what, how” or 岂 “how could”, it makes a question asked with feeling, often a rhetorical one: 吾何以知其然哉 (chapter 57), “How do I know it is so?”
Modern Chinese uses 啊 or 呢 instead. 哉 survives in set phrases such as 呜呼哀哉, “alas”.
哉 as “exclamation particle”
Pattern …… 哉！ / 何（岂）…… 哉？
A final particle that adds feeling. Without a question word it marks an exclamation, often after 也: 非道也哉 (chapter 53), “This is not the Way!” With a question word it marks a question asked with feeling: 吾何以知众甫之状哉 (chapter 21), “How do I know the form of all its origins?” With 岂 “how could” the question is rhetorical and expects “no”: 岂虚言哉 (chapter 22), “how can it be regarded as empty talk?”
7 times in 7 lines.
荒兮其未央哉！
I am scattered, never having been in a comfortable center.
Chapter 20, line 5我愚人之心也哉！
Mine is the mind of a fool!
Chapter 20, line 13吾何以知众甫之状哉？
How do I know the form of all its origins?
Chapter 21, line 9古之所谓曲则全者，岂虚言哉！
The ancient saying "The bent is made whole", how can it be regarded as empty talk?
Chapter 22, line 8非道也哉！
This is not the Way!
Chapter 53, line 10吾何以知天下之然哉？以此。
How do I know the world is so? By this.
Chapter 54, line 12
Show 1 more lines
吾何以知其然哉？以此。
How do I know it is so? By this:
Chapter 57, line 3
How to tell them apart
Look for a question word earlier in the sentence. With 何以 “how” (chapters 21, 54 and 57) or 岂 “how could” (chapter 22), 哉 closes a question; without one (chapters 20 and 53), it closes an exclamation. In chapters 54 and 57 the book answers its own question at once: 以此, “By this.”
Compared with 乎, which mainly asks, 哉 mainly exclaims: in a question it adds feeling rather than asking for information.