假使

• Pinyin: jiǎ shǐ
• Hanzi breakdown: 假 = 亻 + 叚 (person + borrow — supposition, something taken as given); 使 = 亻 + 吏 (person + official — to cause, to employ)

Meaning

If; supposing; granted that; should. A formal conjunction introducing a hypothetical or conditional scenario, more literary than 如果 or 假如.

Used in elevated written Chinese, formal essays, legal texts, and classical-influenced prose to introduce conditional clauses. Signals a higher register than everyday 如果.

Examples

1. 假使当时局势没有发生逆转，这场外交谈判或许会以截然不同的结局收场。 If the situation hadn't reversed at the time, these diplomatic talks might have ended with a completely different outcome.
2. 假使每个人都能对自己的行为承担完全的责任，许多社会问题将迎刃而解。 If everyone could take full responsibility for their own actions, many social problems would be easily resolved.
3. 假使这批资金能够如期到位，基础设施建设项目将可按原定计划顺利推进。 If this funding can be in place on schedule, the infrastructure project will be able to move forward smoothly as originally planned.

Usage Guide

Context: academic writing, legal texts, formal essays, classical literature

Tone: analytical

Do Say

• 假使这一政策方案获得立法机构的批准并付诸实施，其对劳动力市场结构的长期影响将深刻改变各行业的用工格局与薪酬分配机制。(Supposing this policy proposal gains legislative approval and is put into practice, its long-term effects on the structure of the labour market will profoundly change the patterns of employment and wage distribution across industries.)
• 假使当年的科学家们没有坚持不懈地投入研究，许多我们今天视为理所当然的技术成就或许将推迟数十年才能实现。(If the scientists of that era had not persevered in their research without letting up, many technological achievements that we now take for granted might have been delayed by decades.)

Don't Say

• 假使 is more formal and literary than 如果 or 假如. Do not use 假使 in casual conversation or when stating a straightforward real condition. Reserve it for elevated written contexts and formal hypothetical reasoning.

Origin & History

假 (to suppose; conditional) + 使 (to cause; to make; envoy — together: to make it so that / supposing)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal