HEYGOW
🎧
ASMR
Learning
HEYGOW
›
中文
Conversation flow 100
100
phrases
Wholehearted agreement
10
可不是嘛 is a double negative that means strong agreement - "isn't that just so" - and is one of the most natural-sounding things a learner can say. 你算说到点子上了 - you've hit the point - credits the other person with getting to the heart of it.
Reacting with surprise
10
竟然 and 居然 both mark something as contrary to expectation, and both appear here: 竟然还有这种事, 居然是这样. They sit before the verb, not at the start of the sentence. 我下巴都掉了 - my jaw fell off - is the modern colloquial version.
Sounding doubtful
10
听着有点悬 - it sounds a bit precarious - uses 悬, to hang, for something that may not hold up. 我怎么没听说 - how come I haven't heard - doubts by pointing at your own ignorance rather than at the other person, which is the polite way to do it.
Drawing someone out
10
后来呢 - and then? - is the two-syllable engine of Chinese storytelling: keep saying it and the other person keeps going. 我在听呢 - I'm listening - uses the 呢 particle to mark an ongoing state, and it is what you say when the speaker pauses to check.
Cutting in politely
10
我插一句 - let me insert one sentence - is the small, precise way to cut in, and 插 is the verb for plugging something in. 你先说完吧 - finish what you were saying - is the repair when you have cut in too early, and it costs nothing to have ready.
Steering back
10
言归正传 - let the words return to the main tale - is a set phrase from storytelling that now means "back to the point", and it is the formal counterpart to the casual 扯远了 - we've strayed far. Both appear here so you can pick the register.
Summing up
10
归根结底 - to return to the root and settle the bottom - is the heavyweight way to say "ultimately", and it announces that what follows is the real reason. 一句话概括 offers to sum up in one sentence, which is a promise worth keeping.
Changing the subject
10
对了 - oh right - is the everyday hinge for remembering something mid-conversation, and it needs no apology. 话说回来 - speaking of which, coming back - reverses direction and often introduces a qualification of what you just said yourself.
Showing you're listening
10
这样啊 - I see - is the sound of taking something in, and its length does the work: drawn out it means genuine interest, clipped it means you are ready to move on. 受教了 - I have been taught - closes an exchange by crediting the other person.
Building on what was said
10
也就是说 - that is to say - and 换句话说 - to put it another way - are the two rephrasing hinges, and using them makes you sound like someone who is building on the conversation rather than starting over. 反过来想 - think of it in reverse - flips the frame.
Related categories
Softening & hinting 100
Set phrases & idioms 100
Four-character idioms 100
Telling a story 100
Arguing a case 100
Grumbling 100
Joking and irony 100
Formal occasions 100
中文