HEYGOW
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Arguing a case 100
100
phrases
Stating a position
10
理由有三点 - there are three reasons - is worth saying even when you have two, because announcing a count makes an argument sound structured and gives the listener somewhere to put each piece. 我不是反对，而是 uses the 不是…而是… frame to correct a misreading.
Backing it up
10
事实摆在那里 - the facts are laid out right there - is the phrase for pointing at something you consider undeniable. 你可以自己去查 - you can go and check yourself - is stronger than insisting, because it hands the burden back with confidence.
Giving ground
10
我收回刚才的话 - I withdraw what I just said - is a sentence few learners ever practise and everyone eventually needs. Conceding a point in Chinese argument is not weakness; 部分同意 - partly agree - is a standard and respected move.
Finding the weak point
10
你偷换了概念 - you've swapped the concept - is the Chinese name for equivocation, and having a ready label for a fallacy is half of answering it. 这个前提站不住 - that premise won't stand - attacks the foundation rather than the conclusion, which is usually the better target.
Answering back
10
这不能一概而论 - this can't be judged all under one sweep - is the reply to an overgeneralisation, and it is polite enough to use with a superior. 请让我说完 - please let me finish - is worth having ready before you need it, because in the moment it is hard to compose.
Persuading
10
我是为你好 - I'm saying this for your own good - is a phrase to recognise carefully: it is sincere in Chinese families and it is also the most common cover for pressure. 大家都是这么做的 is the appeal to what everyone does, which is persuasion, not evidence.
Staying out of it
10
我不站队 - I'm not taking a side - uses 站队, to stand in a line, and in Chinese organisational life the metaphor is literal enough to matter. 各有各的难处 - each has their own difficulties - declines to judge by widening the frame.
When it gets heated
10
就事论事 - discuss the matter as the matter - means keeping to the issue and off the person, and it is the single most useful thing to say when an argument starts turning personal. 别人身攻击 names the same line directly.
Reaching a decision
10
执行了就别再争 - once it's being carried out, stop arguing - is the norm that lets a Chinese meeting end, and 我保留我的看法 - I reserve my own view - is how you comply without pretending to agree. Both are worth having.
After the argument
10
对事不对人 - about the matter, not the person - is said afterwards to repair a relationship, and it is the standard closing of a hard conversation. 谢谢你的直言 - thank you for speaking straight - thanks someone for the thing that was uncomfortable to hear.
Related categories
Softening & hinting 100
Conversation flow 100
Set phrases & idioms 100
Four-character idioms 100
Telling a story 100
Grumbling 100
Joking and irony 100
Formal occasions 100
中文