Telling a story 100

100 phrases

Opening a story10 你猜怎么着 - guess what happened - is the hook that guarantees the listener stays, and it belongs at the front of a story, never in the middle. 说来话长 - it's a long story to tell - buys you the room to take your time, which is what it is for.
Placing it in time10 就在那个时候 - right at that moment - is the phrase that marks the hinge of a story, and dropping it just before the turn is what makes a Chinese anecdote land. 转眼一年过去了 compresses a year into a clause, and knowing when to compress is half of narrative.
Setting the scene10 外面下着大雨 uses 着 to hold an action open as the backdrop while something else happens in front of it - that is the whole job of 着 in narration. 屋里一片漆黑 uses 一片, one stretch, as the measure for an undivided expanse of darkness.
The turn10 谁知道后来 - who knew what came next - and 谁也没想到 - nobody expected it - both signal a reversal, and putting one of them in front of the turn tells the listener to brace. 我这才发现 - only then did I realise - uses 才 to mark lateness.
Reporting what was said10 他说他不知道 shows that Chinese reported speech does not shift tense the way English does - the inner clause stays exactly as it was spoken. 原话是这么说的 - the original words went like this - flags a verbatim quote, and 大概是这个意思 admits you are paraphrasing.
How it felt10 我心里咯噔一下 - my heart went thud - is onomatopoeic and describes the drop you feel when something goes wrong. 我又气又好笑 - both angry and amused - uses the 又…又… frame for two feelings at once, which is how most real reactions actually work.
How it ended10 不了了之 - it ended by not ending - is the four-character name for a matter that simply faded out without resolution, and it is more common in life than any tidy ending. 总算有个交代 - at least there was an accounting - says someone finally answered for it.
What you took from it10 提了个醒 - it raised a wake-up for me - is the mild, everyday way to say a lesson was learned, far more usable than any proverb. 换成你也一样 - it would have been the same for you - is generous: it removes the blame from the person telling the story.
Passing on second-hand news10 传来传去就变了 - passed along and along, it changed - is the honest note this whole category needs. 据说 marks hearsay at the front of a sentence, and using it protects you: it says the claim is not yours.
The listener's part10 我起鸡皮疙瘩了 - I've got goosebumps - names the same physical reaction in Chinese and works for both awe and horror. 难为你了 - that was hard on you - acknowledges what someone went through, and it is one of the warmest three-syllable phrases in the language.

中文

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