It is No Wonder 難怪 in Chinese

Fun Learning Chinese

Suppose your child comes up to you and says,

我的肚子餓了！

(我的)(肚子)(餓)(了)

(wo3 de.) (du4 zi.) (e4) (le.)

(my) (stomach, belly) (hungry) (emphasis)

I’m hungry!

It is likely you know the whole story, so can say,

難怪！你沒吃午餐啊！

(難怪)！(你)(沒)❶(吃)(午餐)(啊)

(nan2 guai4)! (ni3) (mei2) (chi1) (wu3 can1) (a1)

(no wonder)! (you) (have not) (to eat) (lunch) (conversational sound)

No wonder! You didn’t eat lunch!

Maybe you are falling asleep unintentionally in the middle of the afternoon, then you think:

今天早上啊我跑步很遠噢！難怪我很累。

(今天)(早上)(啊)(我)(跑步)(很)(遠)❷(噢)！(難怪)(我)(很)(累)

(jin1 tian1) (zao3 shang4) (a1) (wo3) (pao3 bu4) (hen3) (yuan3) (ou1)!

(nan2 guai4) (wo3) (hen3) (lei4)

(today) (morning) (conversational sound) (I) (to run) (very) (far distance) (conversational sound)

(no wonder) (I) (very) (tired)

This morning I ran very far! No wonder I am tired.

Perhaps your friend is having trouble concentrating, but can explain:

我的孫女很快會來拜訪，難怪我興奮！

(我的)(孫女)[(很)(快)](會)(來)(拜訪)，(難怪)(我)(興奮)

(wo3 de.) (sun1 nü3) [(hen3) (kuai)] (hui4) (lai2) (bai4 fang3), (nan2 guai4) (wo3) (xing1 fen4)

(my) (granddaughter) [(very)(fast, quick, soon, almost)] (will) (to come) (visit), (no wonder) (I) (excited)

My granddaughter will come visit soon, no wonder I am excited!

The phrase 「難怪」(nan2 guai4) is formed from:

• 難 (nan2) meaning “difficult, hard”
• 怪 (guai4) which here is most accurately translated as “to be surprised at” , “to wonder at”, or “to blame”.

So the translation of the whole phrase to “it is no wonder” or simply “no wonder” is straightforward and used the same as the phrase in English.

Practice using the phrase is also a good time to be more casual with vocabulary and use the words:

• 這麼 (zhe4 me.) this
• 那麼 (na4 me.) that

You might tell yourself, honestly,

妳買這麼多衣服，難怪妳沒有錢。

(妳)(買)(這麼)(多)(衣服)，(難怪)(妳)(沒有)(錢)

(ni3) (mai3) (zhe4 me.) (duo1) (yi1 fu2), (nan2 guai4) (ni3) (mei2) (you3) (qian2)

(you) (to buy) (this) (many) (clothes), (no wonder) (you) (not) (to have) (money)

You buy this many clothes, no wonder you don’t have any money.

or something more positive

妳念書念得那麼久，難怪妳這麼有學問！

(妳)(念書)[(念)(得)]❸(那麼)(久)，(難怪)(妳)(這麼)(有學問)

(ni3) (nian4 shu1) [(nian4)(de.)] (na4 me.) (jiu3),

(nan2 guai4) (ni3) (zhe4 me.) (you3 xue2 wen2)

(you) (to study) [(to study)(indicates adverb will follow)] (this) (long of a time),

(no wonder) (you) (this) (knowledgeable)

Since you study that long, it is no wonder you know this much!

Hopefully, someone thinks the following of you:

你工作做得那麼好，難怪他們喜歡你。

(你)(工作)[(做)(得)](那麼)(好)，(難怪)(他們)(喜歡)(你)

(ni3) (gong1 zuo4) [(zuo4)(de.)](na4 me.)(hao3),

(nan2 guai4) (ta1 men.) (xi3 huan1) (ni3)

(you) (to work) [(to do)(indicates adverb to follow)] (that) (good, much, pleasing),

(no wonder) (they) (to like) (you)

You work that hard, no wonder they like you.

My daughter can currently say,

我剛剛認養這麼一隻很可愛的小貓， 難怪我很高興嘍！

(我)(剛剛)(認養)❹(這麼)(一隻)(很)(可愛)(的)(小貓)， (難怪)(我)(很)(高興)(嘍)

(wo3) (gang1 gang1) (ren4 yang3) (zhe4 me.) (yi1 zhi1) (ke3 ai4) (de.) (xiao3 mao1),

(nan2 guai4) (wo3) (hen3) (gao1 xing4) (lou1)

(I) (just) (to adopt) (this) (measure words for kitten) (very) (cute) (small + cat = kitten)

(no wonder) (I) (very) (happy) (conversational sound)

I just got this cute, new kitten, no wonder I am very happy.

But the family dog is thinking,

那麼小的貓又跑得很快，難怪得到很多注意力。

(那麼)(小)(的)(貓)(又)(跑)(得)(很)(快)，(難怪)(得到)(很)(多)(注意力)

(na4 me.) (xiao3) (de.) (mao1) (you4) (pao3) (de.) (hen3) (kuai4),

(nan2 guai4) (de2 dao4) (hen3) (duo1) (zhu4 yi4 li4)

(that) (small) (adjective marker) (cat) (also, in moreover) (to run) (adverb marker) (very) (fast),

(no wonder) (succeeds in getting) (attention)

That cat is not only small, but fast; no wonder it gets so much attention.

It is all about perspective。

大家都有不同的觀點，難怪我們看事情也會不一樣。

(大家)(都)(有)(不)(同)(的)(觀點)，(難怪)(我們)(看)(事情)(也)(會)(不)(一樣)

(da4 jia1) (dou1) (you3) (bu4) (tong2)(de.) (guan1 dian3),

(nan2 guai4) (wo3 men.) (kan4) (shi4 qing2) (ye3) (hui4) (bu4) (yi1 yang4)

(everyone) (all) (to have) (not) (same, equal)(adjective marker) (point of view),

(no wonder) (we) (to see) (matters) (also (will) (not) (same)

Everyone is different, no wonder we also will see matters differently.

In this audio, I read the English and my Chinese tutor reads the Chinese:

http://funlearningchinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/It-is-No-Wonder-難怪-in-Chinese.m4a

---

Notes:

❶ Both 不 (bu4) and 沒 (mei2) are both common negative prefixes that mean “not,” but with distinctions that are not interchangeable. 不 (bu4) tends to mean “not want” or a more absolute 不是 (bu2 shi4) “that is not how it is.” (You may notice that the tone for 不 (bu4) changes to 2^nd tone if the following verb is 4^th tone.)

沒 (mei2) is more along the lines of “have not,” so it is not that something is an absolute negative, but it hasn’t been done at that point. It helps me to think about the words in the most common phrases that I have heard them in. 不要 (bu2 yao4) was some of the first Chinese I spoke out loud to a street vendor who was pestering me. The phrase 有沒有 (you3 mei2 you3) is common in front of another verb to ask if you have done something.

❷ For this sentence, one could replace 遠 (yuan3), a “long or far distance,” with 久 (jiu3), “a long time,” for an almost identical meaning.

❸ This is a particular grammatical structure for when you want to add adverbial descriptions to an action. [an action + the same verb now followed by the adverbial marker 得 (de.) + the adverb descriptors]. It might help to think of this sentence as saying “since your studying is studiously long…”

❹ It English, when someone says they have a “new” pet, it means new to them or recently acquired in ownership. My tutor explains that would not be clear to Chinese speakers. There needs to be reference to how the pet was obtained. Was it purchased 買的 (mai3 de.) , adopted 認養 (ren4 yang3 de.), newly come 新來的 (xin1 lai2 de.), or given as a gift 人家送的 (ren2 jia1 song4 de.)? Or maybe the speaker is trying to say it is just born, as in 新生的 (xin1 sheng1 de.) . Each of these would be preceded by 剛剛 (gang1 gang1) “just now, barely” to add the full meaning.