但咱们既没有证据 那也不可能有手续呀
“But we have no evidence nor a warrant.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“Li Youtian's home? Who else could it be?”
但咱们 既没有证据 那 也不可能有手续 呀
“But we have no evidence nor a warrant.”
那也进不去呀
“We can't get in.”
“Be realistic; we cannot just break in without a warrant or evidence.”
In Chinese law enforcement contexts, acting without proper 'procedures' (手续) leaves officers legally and politically vulnerable.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
neither having... nor possibly being able to...
A useful correlative pattern to enumerate multiple compounding obstacles or negative conditions.
official procedures, formalities, or warrants
Commonly used in spoken Chinese to refer broadly to required administrative documents or legal authorization.
Softens the blunt contradiction while highlighting the obviousness of the problem.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“[Zhang Hailou] We've never issued any badge like this.”
“we have no evidence to prove”
“But we don't have evidence,”
“I know we don't have much evidence, but--”
“We don't have any concrete evidence at the moment.”
“Without a warrant, our hands are tied.”