他們四處找來找去,但就是找不到合適的地方。

They went along and along, but they couldn't seem to find just the right place.

After searching and asking around, they still couldn't find a suitable place.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 他們 men they; them
2 四處 chù
  1. all over the place
  2. everywhere and all directions
3 zhǎo
  1. to try to find
  2. to look for
  3. to call on sb
  4. to find
  5. to seek
  6. to return
  7. to give change
4 lái
  1. to come
  2. (used as a substitute for a more specific verb)
  3. hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回来 huílai)
  4. ever since (as in 自古以来 lái)
  5. for the past (amount of time)
  6. (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 来世 láishì)
  7. (between two verbs) in order to
  8. (after a round number) approximately
  9. (used after to indicate possibility, as in 谈得来 tándelái, or after to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不来 chībulái)
5 zhǎo
  1. to try to find
  2. to look for
  3. to call on sb
  4. to find
  5. to seek
  6. to return
  7. to give change
6
  1. to go
  2. to go to (a place)
  3. (of a time etc) last
  4. just passed
  5. to send
  6. to remove
  7. to get rid of
  8. to reduce
  9. to be apart from in space or time
  10. to die (euphemism)
  11. to play (a part)
  12. (when used either before or after a verb) to go in order to do sth
  13. (after a verb of motion indicates movement away from the speaker)
  14. (used after certain verbs to indicate detachment or separation)
7 dàn
  1. but; yet; however; still
  2. merely; only; just
8 就是 jiùshì
  1. exactly; precisely
  2. only; simply; just
  3. (used correlatively with ) even; even if
9 找不到 zhǎobudào can't find
10 合適 shì suitable; fitting; appropriate
=11 de
  1. of; ~'s (possessive particle)
  2. (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun)
  3. (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis)
  4. (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的 de "one made of leather" or 跑堂儿的 pǎotángrde "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的 xīnde "new one")
  5. also pr. or di in poetry and songs
=11 a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士 shì)
=11 really and truly
=11 (bound form) bull's-eye; target
=12 地方 fāng
  1. region
  2. regional (away from the central administration)
  3. local
=12 地方 fang
  1. area
  2. place
  3. space
  4. room
  5. territory

classifiers: , ,