HSK 7–9 grammar · pattern
爱A不A
爱A不A — do it or don't, see if I care
Pattern
+ + +
( ) can be left out · other words may come before, between and after
How it works
爱A不A fills both slots with the same verb and tells the listener the speaker has stopped caring which way it goes: 爱去不去 "go or don't, suit yourself". It is blunt and slightly annoyed, so it belongs to close, informal speech.
Examples
你爱去不去，我不管了。
Nǐ ài qù bú qù, wǒ bù guǎn le.
Go or don't — I'm done caring.
爱吃不吃，就这些菜。
Ài chī bù chī, jiù zhèxiē cài.
Eat it or not, this is all there is.
Related
See it in a story
In the app, 爱A不A is underlined wherever it appears in the stories you read, and practised with sentences from them. Free.