难道難道 nándào — could it be that…, don’t tell me… (rhetorical question)
nándào (second tone, rising)nan2dao4
Traditional: 難道
could it be that…, don’t tell me… (rhetorical question)
HSK 4· HSK 1–4 (classic)adverb
Meanings
could it be that…, don’t tell me… (rhetorical question)
难, hard, and 道, to say — "hard to say [it is otherwise]." It opens a question the speaker already believes they know the answer to, usually a surprised or exasperated one: 难道你忘了吗？, don’t tell me you forgot?
adverb
Example sentences
- 难道你不知道这件事吗？難道你不知道這件事嗎？Nándào (second tone, rising) nǐ (third tone, dipping) bù (fourth tone, falling) zhīdào (first tone, high and level) zhè (fourth tone, falling) jiàn (fourth tone, falling) shì (fourth tone, falling) ma? (neutral tone)···
Don’t tell me you don’t know about this?
- 他难道不怕迟到吗？都快九点了。他難道不怕遲到嗎？都快九點了。Tā (first tone, high and level) nándào (second tone, rising) bú (second tone, rising) pà (fourth tone, falling) chídào (second tone, rising) ma? (neutral tone) Dōu (first tone, high and level) kuài (fourth tone, falling) jiǔ (third tone, dipping) diǎn (third tone, dipping) le. (neutral tone)···
Isn’t he worried about being late? It’s almost nine already.
Common mistakes
Not quite难道你不知道吗这件事？
Correct难道你不知道这件事吗？
难道 opens the rhetorical question, but the question particle 吗 still belongs at the very end of the sentence. 难道 does not change normal word order — it only adds disbelief on top of it.