根本
gēn​běn HSK3

at all

根本 gēn​běn
at all adverb
Used in negative sentences to emphasize a complete lack of something, meaning "not at all" or "never".

你根本连试都没试。

nǐ gēn​běn lián shì dōu méi shi.

You didn't even try.

我关心的根本不是她。

wǒ guān​xīn de gēn​běn bù​shì tā.

She's not the one I'm concerned about at all.

fundamental adjectivenoun
Essential; basic; of primary importance or acting as the deciding factor.

根本的问题在于，这些感受是否是好事。

gēn​běn de wèn​tí zài​yú, zhè​xiē gǎn​shòu shì​fǒu shì hǎo​shì.

The fundamental question is whether these feelings are a good thing.

foundation noun
The root, source, or essence of a thing; a basic foundation upon which something is built.

不要说“现在就做作业，因为我说过”，而是解释这个规则的根本原因。

bù​yào shuō“ xiàn​zài jiù zuò zuò​yè, yīn​wèi wǒ shuō guo”, ér​shì jiě​shì zhè​ge guī​zé de gēn​běn yuán​yīn.

Instead of saying, “Do your homework now because I said so,” explain the underlying reason for the rule.

simply adverb
Thoroughly; completely; utterly. This is used to emphasize a statement, often expressing that a situation is fundamental or cannot be changed.

这根本是弥天大谎。

zhè gēn​běn shì mí​tiān​dà​huǎng.

This is an outright lie.

root of a plant
The actual root system of a plant or tree
capital
Principal or seed money; original capital for business

Frequency
Movie subtitles
307.4 per million appears in 67% of films
Written text
151.9 per million

Details
HSK 2.0
Level 5
HSK 3.0
Level 3

Cross-References

Classifier

Sources
Frequency data
SUBTLEX-CHBCC Corpus (BLCU)