Difference between revisions of "Expressing "no wonder""

Line 22: Line 22:
  
 
*小张 请假 了,<em>怪不得</em> 今天 没有 看到 他 。<span class="pinyin">Xiǎo Zhāng qǐngjià le, <em>guàibude</em> jīntiān méiyǒu kàndào tā.</span><span class="trans">Little Zhang asked for some vacation time, no wonder I haven't seen him today.</span>
 
*小张 请假 了,<em>怪不得</em> 今天 没有 看到 他 。<span class="pinyin">Xiǎo Zhāng qǐngjià le, <em>guàibude</em> jīntiān méiyǒu kàndào tā.</span><span class="trans">Little Zhang asked for some vacation time, no wonder I haven't seen him today.</span>
 +
*天天 迟到 ,<em>怪不得</em> 他 被 炒鱿鱼 。<span class="pinyin">Tiāntiān chídào, <em>guàibude</em> tā bèi chǎoyóuyú.</span><span class="trans">He's late for work everyday. No wonder he got fired.</span>
 +
*<em>怪不得</em> 你们 这么 高兴 ,<em>原来</em> 是 要 结婚 了 。<span class="pinyin"><em>Guàibude</em> nǐmen zhème gāoxìng, <em>yuánlái</em> shì yào jiéhūn le.</span><span class="trans">No wonder you two look so happy. You are getting married.</span>
 
*老板 过年 要 发 红包 ,<em>难怪</em> 大家 最近 都 这么 开心 。<span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn guònián yào fā hóngbāo, <em>nánguài</em> dàjiā zuìjìn dōu zhème kāixīn.</span><span class="trans"> Boss is going to give out red envelopes. No wonder everyone looks so happy recently.</span>
 
*老板 过年 要 发 红包 ,<em>难怪</em> 大家 最近 都 这么 开心 。<span class="pinyin">Lǎobǎn guònián yào fā hóngbāo, <em>nánguài</em> dàjiā zuìjìn dōu zhème kāixīn.</span><span class="trans"> Boss is going to give out red envelopes. No wonder everyone looks so happy recently.</span>
*你 的 手机 丢了 ?<em>怪不得</em> 你的 手机 一直 打不通 。<span class="pinyin"> Nǐ de shǒujī diūle? <em>Guàibude</em> nǐ de shǒujī yīzhí dǎ bu tōng .</span><span class="trans"> Your cell phone is lost? No wonder I couldn't get through.</span>
+
*你 的 手机 丢了 ?<em>怪不得</em> 打 电话 找 不到 你 。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ de shǒujī diūle? <em>Guàibude</em> dǎ diànhuà zhǎo bu dào nǐ.</span><span class="trans">You lost your cell phone? No wonder I couldn't reach you by phone.</span>
 
*<em>难怪</em> 这里 人 这么 多 ,原来 在 打折 。<span class="pinyin"><em>Nánguài</em> zhèlǐ rén zhème duō, yuánlái zài dǎzhé.</span><span class="trans">No wonder there are so many people here. There's a sale going on.</span>
 
*<em>难怪</em> 这里 人 这么 多 ,原来 在 打折 。<span class="pinyin"><em>Nánguài</em> zhèlǐ rén zhème duō, yuánlái zài dǎzhé.</span><span class="trans">No wonder there are so many people here. There's a sale going on.</span>
*<em>怪不得</em> 他 没 告诉 我 ,原来 是 不 想 让 我 担心 。<span class="pinyin"><em>Guàibude</em> tā méi gàosu wǒ, yuánlái shì bù xiǎng ràng wǒ dānxīn.</span><span class="trans">No wonder he hasn't told me. It turns out that he doesn't want me to worry about this.</span>
+
*<em>怪不得</em> 他 没 告诉 我 ,原来 是 不 想 让 我 担心 。<span class="pinyin"><em>Guàibude</em> tā méi gàosu wǒ, yuánlái shì bù xiǎng ràng wǒ dānxīn.</span><span class="trans">No wonder he hasn't told me. He doesn't want me to worry about this.</span>
  
 
</div>
 
</div>

Revision as of 03:40, 21 November 2017

怪不得 (guàibude) can be used to express that the speaker finds something unsurprising. It can be used alone or in a variety of different structures, as shown below. 难怪 (nánguài) is another way to express exactly the same thing.

Structure

怪不得 is used to convey the speaker's lack of amazement at a situation, having recently acquired some new information that in his opinion explains it. It can be replaced with 难怪 in the structure without altering its meaning.

Reason ,怪不得 / 难怪 + Observation

or

怪不得 / 难怪 + Observation ,原来 + Reason

Examples

  • 小张 请假 了,怪不得 今天 没有 看到 他 。Xiǎo Zhāng qǐngjià le, guàibude jīntiān méiyǒu kàndào tā.Little Zhang asked for some vacation time, no wonder I haven't seen him today.
  • 天天 迟到 ,怪不得 他 被 炒鱿鱼 。Tiāntiān chídào, guàibude tā bèi chǎoyóuyú.He's late for work everyday. No wonder he got fired.
  • 怪不得 你们 这么 高兴 ,原来 是 要 结婚 了 。Guàibude nǐmen zhème gāoxìng, yuánlái shì yào jiéhūn le.No wonder you two look so happy. You are getting married.
  • 老板 过年 要 发 红包 ,难怪 大家 最近 都 这么 开心 。Lǎobǎn guònián yào fā hóngbāo, nánguài dàjiā zuìjìn dōu zhème kāixīn. Boss is going to give out red envelopes. No wonder everyone looks so happy recently.
  • 你 的 手机 丢了 ?怪不得 打 电话 找 不到 你 。Nǐ de shǒujī diūle? Guàibude dǎ diànhuà zhǎo bu dào nǐ.You lost your cell phone? No wonder I couldn't reach you by phone.
  • 难怪 这里 人 这么 多 ,原来 在 打折 。Nánguài zhèlǐ rén zhème duō, yuánlái zài dǎzhé.No wonder there are so many people here. There's a sale going on.
  • 怪不得 他 没 告诉 我 ,原来 是 不 想 让 我 担心 。Guàibude tā méi gàosu wǒ, yuánlái shì bù xiǎng ràng wǒ dānxīn.No wonder he hasn't told me. He doesn't want me to worry about this.

the Other Meaning of 难怪

This usage is definitely less common, but sometimes 难怪 is a combination of the 难 + Verb pattern and the verb 怪, meaning "to blame." In this case, the meaning is totally different. Although it's not as common and you shouldn't need to worry about it too much, we include it here because if you ever run into and think that 难怪 can only ever have one meaning, it can totally throw you for a loop.

A few common examples:

  • 这也 难怪 他 ,他 这么 小 。 Zhè yě nánguài tā, tā zhème xiǎo.Don't blame him. He's so young.
  • 这也 难怪 大家 ,是 我们 通知 晚 了 。Don't blame everybody. It was a short notice.
  • 这 也 难怪 ,你们 第 一 次 来 ,还 不 了解 这里 的 风俗 。Zhè yě nánguài, nǐmen dì-yī cì lái, bù liǎojiě zhèlǐ de fēngsú.Don't blame yourselves. It's your first time here, and you don't understand the customs.

When used in this way it expresses that the speaker assigns no blame in the situation he is describing. Sometimes the specific person undeserving of blame is mentioned directly after 难怪, as in the first two examples. Often however the context makes clear who this person is and this is not necessary, as in the third example.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Dictionaries