Hello everyone, I’m Grace.
Last time we’ve learned 5 fixed expressions in Chinese
and learned how native speakers use them.
Today we are going to learn another five useful expressions.
Let’s go!
Number 1,
老實說
老實 is honest and 說 is to speak or to say
So 老實說 is “To be honest” or “honestly”
When you want to tell someone your true thoughts
or opinions about something, you can use 老實說.
Like,
The woman said, to be honest 老實說
he shouldn’t take the painting away 他不應該把畫帶走.
She used 老實說 and then told the other person her true thoughts.
Or sometimes when you want someone to admit something
or to tell you the truth, you can use 老實說.
The last example is 我老實說 (I speak honestly) and omit the 我.
And the next example I’m going to show you is 你老實說 and omit the 你.
The speaker adds 老實說 before his sentence to ask the other person to tell the truth.
OK, let’s take a look at this example:
Here the speaker used 老實說 to ask the other person to tell the truth.
If you see a question added after 老實說,
The meaning of 老實說 is usually 你老實說, be honest with me.
OK, the second one is
好久不見
好久 is for a long time, 不 is not, and 見 is to meet or to see.
So 好久不見 means “long time no see”
It is said that this English expression actually originates from Chinese.
I’m not sure but the grammar is pretty similar,
so I think this will be easy for you to remember.
This expression 好久不見 is used when you haven’t met a friend for a long time,
and you finally meet and talk to the person, then you can say 好久不見.
Like these examples:
Next,
沒關係
沒 is not or have not. 關係 here has the meaning of relevance or influence.
So 沒關係 can express that it doesn’t have much influence,
it’s ok, you don’t have to worry. Never mind, It doesn’t matter.
You can use this expression when someone is apologizing to you,
and the polite response to this apology is: 沒關係 沒關係
Or you can use 沒關係 to comfort people,
when they are worried about something or they care and are upset about something,
then you can use 沒關係 to express that the thing does not matter that much
and they shouldn’t worry too much.
Like this:
Another way to use 沒關係 is to mean “to have nothing to do with…”
關係 has the meaning of relevance, relation, or relationship.
And 沒 is not or have not.
So 沒關係 can mean “to have nothing to do with…”.
Usually, it’s in this structure “跟 + sb. / sth. + 沒關係”
For example:
OK, let’s move on to the next one.
順其自然
順 is to follow, 其 here means “it or its” and 自然 is nature.
So this expression 順其自然 literally means following its nature.
In daily life, we use it to mean “Whatever happens, happens”.
There are so many unpredictable things in our life,
sometimes we try our best but still cannot control the outcome,
so we say 順其自然 to express that you don’t have to think or worry too much,
just do your best and then whatever will happen, will happen.
The final one is
原來如此
原來 is original or originally,
and 如此 is “so or like this”.
原來如此 is used when you find out about something you didn’t know.
It can be translated into “I see!”, “So that’s why!” or “I didn’t know that before!”.
Sometimes you might hear people just say “原來” or “原來是這樣”.
They are also used to express that the people found out something they didn’t know.
But “原來” could just mean “original or originally”,
it depends on the context.
Now let’s take a look at an example of 原來是這樣.
It means the same as 原來如此.
OK now that we’ve learned these five expressions today.
Let’s have a quick recap.
The first one, 老實說 means “To be honest” or “be honest with me”
The second one is used when you haven’t seen a friend for a long time,
you can say 好久不見 “long time no see”
Number three is 沒關係. It is used when someone is apologizing to you,
and you can politely respond with 沒關係 “It’s ok” or “never mind”,
or you can use 沒關係 to comfort someone and express
that the thing does not matter that much and they shouldn’t worry too much.
And also, there is another way to use 沒關係.
It can mean “to have nothing to do with…”.
Number four is 順其自然, 順其自然 means “Whatever happens, happens"
The final one is 原來如此,
原來如此 is used when you find out about something you didn’t know before.
OK, that’s all for today!
If you like this kind of topic and feel like it is helpful for you,
please let me know in the comments.
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I hope you enjoyed today’s video.
I'll see you soon, bye!