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Softening & hinting 100
100
phrases
Softening a statement
10
我个人觉得 - I personally feel - narrows a claim to yourself before you make it, which is the commonest softener in Chinese. 可能是我想多了 - maybe I'm overthinking - takes the fault onto yourself pre-emptively. 你别往心里去 asks that words not be taken to heart.
Saying no without saying no
10
我尽量吧 - I'll do my best - and 再考虑考虑 - let me think it over some more - are refusals, not promises, and hearing them as commitments is a classic mistake. 你另请高明 - please seek someone more capable - is a flat no dressed as a compliment.
Hinting
10
这里面有文章 - "there's an article inside this" - means something more is going on than is being said, and is one of the most useful idioms here. 有些话不用说破 - some things need not be said through - states the whole principle of this category in six characters.
Not committing
10
原则上是可以的 - in principle it's allowed - is the sentence to be wary of, because 原则上 usually introduces an exception that has not been mentioned yet. 不排除这个可能 - this possibility isn't excluded - is careful officialese worth recognising in news and meetings.
Deferring to someone
10
承蒙您抬举 - I'm indebted to you for lifting me up - is the reply when someone has praised you to a third party or given you an opportunity. 请您多批评 asks for criticism, which is the formal way to present your own work in Chinese professional life.
Pushing back gently
10
话是这么说，不过 - that's what's said, but - is the two-part frame for disagreeing after conceding, and the concession is not optional. 我倒觉得不一定 uses 倒 to mark a turn against expectation: on the contrary, I'm not so sure.
Asking a delicate question
10
冒昧 - presumptuous - is the word you use about yourself before asking something intrusive: 这话可能有点冒昧. 不想说也没关系 gives the other person a way out before they have to look for one, and that is what makes the question askable.
Regret and second thoughts
10
早知道就不去了 - had I known, I wouldn't have gone - is the counterfactual pattern: 早知道 plus what you would have done differently. 吃一堑长一智 - one setback, one more wit - is the proverb that turns regret into something usable.
Thanks with weight behind it
10
这份情我记下了 - I've written this kindness down - is the heaviest thanks here and connects to the 人情 accounting you met in the everyday set. 要不是你，我就麻烦了 - if it weren't for you, I'd be in trouble - names what was actually at stake, which is what makes it land.
Closing a conversation well
10
后会有期 - there will be a time to meet again - is the formal farewell, and it carries a note of finality that 再见 does not. 代我问候家人 - give my regards to your family - is the closing that assumes you know something of the other person's life.
Related categories
Conversation flow 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