哈囉，大家好！(Hello, everyone) I’m Grace.
Today I’m gonna introduce 5 common filler words in Chinese.
Filler words 填充詞 are very common in languages.
Different languages have their own 填充詞.
Because when we’re talking,
we need some time to think about what to say,
but we don’t want the conversation to stop
and also we’re not ready to let the other person talk,
so we use filler words to fill in these gaps.
It’s just like in English,
sometimes you say “like, um, you know, I mean” etc.
But try not to overuse filler words
if you want to sound confident and refined.
Now let’s get into the top 5 Chinese filler words:
Number 1 is 就是（說）
Even though 就是 has the meaning of exactly or precisely,
a lot of times people just use it as a filler word
when they want to further explain something
or to give themselves some extra time to think.
You might have noticed that
when I’m uncertain about what to say, I use a lot of 那個.
Which is our second filler word.
You can also pronounce it as "nei ge".
If you want to know why it is pronounced this way,
check out this video.
OK, so I believe that you’ve learned the meaning of 那個
is “that” or “that one”.
In daily life, we often use this word
when we’re thinking about what we are going to say
or when we’re trying to come up with the right word
or sentence to express it.
It can also be used to call others’ attention
and start a conversation:
And sometimes people use it
when they’re going to say something that you probably don’t want to hear,
in this case, they add 那個 to sound not so direct.
The next one is 那.
This filler word is different from the last one 那個.
Here 那 has the meaning of “那麼”
which means “then” or “in that case”.
那...今天的影片就到這邊囉！(那...今天的影片就到这边啰!) Then that’s it for today’s video!
欸！其實......其實還沒結束啦！(欸！其实......其实还没结束啦！) Hey! Actually… actually, it’s not over yet!
Let’s see the next filler word: 其實
It means “actually”
People often use 其實 to make their tone of voice softer.
The final one is 然後.
然後 means “and then”.
Believe me, people say a lot of 然後 in daily conversation,
like this,
I remember that when I was in high school,
the teacher asked us not to overuse 然後 in a presentation
because it sounds unprofessional.
The basic usage of 然後 is to a show time sequence.
One thing happens “and then” another thing happens.
For example,
When 然後 is used as a filler word,
it’s often just used to make a conversation flow better,
it doesn’t affect the meaning of the sentences at all.
OK, these are the five Chinese filler words 填充詞 for today.
I believe you can understand Chinese much better
after learning these words!
Other than these filler words,
we also use a lot of interjections in daily conversation.
Like 嗯..., 欸, 呃... etc.
I’ve talked about them in this video.
You can also find the link in the description below.
Btw if you want to learn some daily expressions in Mandarin,
check out my Instagram: @GraceMandarin
And don’t forget to like and subscribe to my channel!
Alright, 那我們下次見囉！掰掰！(I’ll see you next time! Bye!)