Chinese Grammar: Expressing “no wonder”.

These days, it’s hard to find our Lupishu. Where is he? Usually, he likes playing soccer at this time of day... You guys are really wondering, aren’t you?

I'll tell you where he is! He's busily preparing for a Chinese test in the library! For the past few days, he's been studying Chinese very hard, every single day! No wonder, you can’t find him on the soccer field.

You saw me coming, right? How do you say "no wonder" or "no surprise" in Chinese?

You can express “ no wonder” (or "no surprise," “no doubt”...) in Chinese Mandarin with 难怪, 难怪...原来, and 怪不得. As you can imagine, there are a few differences to know between these words. The Chinese like using them to say something they’ve been wondering about all along. Let's see how to use them.

Using 难怪 or 怪不得 as an adverb

When 难怪 is used as an adverb, it has the sense of “no doubt” or “it’s not surprising that”.

You use 难怪 when you've been longing for an answer, and yet when you suddenly learn the reason, you don’t feel surprised. It strengthens the certainty of things.

怪不得 can also be used as an adverb, to designate how unsurprising something is. The beautiful thing is therefore that you can interchange this word with 难怪 without changing the meaning. Just note you use 怪不得 more informally than 难怪.

Structure

Reason + 难怪 / 怪不得 + Statement

Examples

每天 都 吃 那么 多 东西 ， 难怪 你 那么 胖。
You eat so much, no wonder you are so fat.

他 考试 没 考 好 ， 难怪 他 那么 不 高兴。
He didn’t pass the exam, no wonder he is so upset.

他 妈妈 是 中国人 ， 怪不得 他 汉语 说 得 这么 好。
His mom is Chinese, no wonder he can speak Chinese so well.

In this situation, you can also use this next pattern.

Structure

难怪 / 怪不得 + Statement，原来 + Reason

Examples

难怪 他 这么 饿 ， 原来 是 没 吃 早饭。
No wonder he is so hungry, it turns out he didn’t eat breakfast.

难怪 他 不 高兴 ， 原来 他 电脑 坏了。
No wonder he is not happy, it turns out his computer was broken.

怪不得 他 不在 ， 原来 是 去 中国 了。
No wonder he isn’t at home, it turns out that he went to China.

Using 难怪 as a verb

When 难怪 is used as a verb, you'll use this pattern: 难 + 怪.

难 means hard and 怪 means to blame. So, together they give “hard to blame”. You can consider it as “it is not to be blamed” in English. Think about this situation when a kid is drawing on your skirt, don’t blame him, because you know, he is just a kid!

Structure

难怪+ Specific person/people

Examples

难怪 他 做 不好 ， 他 还是 个 孩子。
Don’t blame him if he can’t do well, he is just a kid.

难怪 他 不知 道 ， 他 是 新 来 的。
Don’t blame him for not knowing anything, he is new here.

他 迟到 了 ， 这 也 难怪 ， 今天 地铁 坏了。
He is late, it’s not his fault, the metro broke down today.

Actually 怪不得 can also be used to mean “not to be blamed” as a verb, but usually, it is used as the main verb (aka the predicator for you grammar fans). For example: 这 事 他 不知 道 ， 怪不得 他。He doesn’t know this, don’t blame him.