Expressing "hard to avoid" with "nanmian"

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难免 (nánmiǎn) means "to be unavoidable" or "inevitable" and is most commonly placed before a verb, often an auxillary verb such as 会 or 要. It can only be used to introduce an inevitable situation that is characterized by negative features. One cannot use 难免 to talk of a positive inevitability such as "you will inevitably have a good time".

Structure

(Subject)+ 难免 + Verb

Examples

  • 刚 开始 说 外语 时 难免 会 有 一些 误会。When you first start speaking a foreign language, there are inevitable going to be some misunderstandings.
  • 年轻 人 难免 会 遇到 挫折,最 关键 的 是 学习 怎么样 克服。Young people are always going to face problems, but the most important thing is to learn how to overcome them.
  • 现在 是 高峰期,地铁 难免 拥挤。It's rush hour right now. There's no way to avoid the congestion in the subway.

Using a negative in the phrase after 难免 does not change the meaning of the sentence. So, for example, 难免不拥挤 and 难免拥挤 mean the same thing.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

HSK5