Against all expectation: 竟然
竟然 marks a fact as surprising — not what the speaker expected. It is an adverb: it follows the subject and comes before the verb, including before any negation.
Structure
主语 + 竟然 + 谓语（出乎意料）
Explanation
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
， “Such an easy question, and he couldn’t answer it.” does not change what happened; it adds the speaker’s reaction — this runs against what I expected.
The expectation can go either way. The surprise may be pleasant (， “After only six months of Chinese she can follow Chinese films”) or not (). What matters is that the outcome contradicts what was assumed. That is why clashes with a sentence that says the speaker knew all along: ， makes no sense. The word for “just as expected” is ; is its opposite.
As an adverb, follows the subject and precedes everything else in the predicate — modal verbs, , and negation: , . It never opens a sentence in front of the subject.
is a close synonym, slightly more colloquial. On the paper, is often the key to a listening or reading question: it tells you that the outcome is the opposite of what the speaker thought.
Correct
Say each one out loud before moving on. The audio is a reference pronunciation, not a model to imitate exactly — match the tone contour, not the voice.
这么简单的问题，他竟然不会回答。這麼簡單的問題，他竟然不會回答。
Zhème (fourth tone, falling) jiǎndān (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) wèntí, (fourth tone, falling) tā (first tone, high and level) jìngrán (fourth tone, falling) bú (second tone, rising) huì (fourth tone, falling) huídá. (second tone, rising)···
Such an easy question, and he couldn’t answer it.
我们只见过一次面，他竟然还记得我的名字。我們只見過一次面，他竟然還記得我的名字。
Wǒmen (third tone, dipping) zhǐ (third tone, dipping) jiànguo (fourth tone, falling) yí (second tone, rising) cì (fourth tone, falling) miàn, (fourth tone, falling) tā (first tone, high and level) jìngrán (fourth tone, falling) hái (second tone, rising) jìde (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) míngzi. (second tone, rising)···
We’d only met once, and yet he still remembered my name.
她学了半年汉语，竟然能看懂中文电影了。她學了半年漢語，竟然能看懂中文電影了。
Tā (first tone, high and level) xuéle (second tone, rising) bàn (fourth tone, falling) nián (second tone, rising) Hànyǔ, (fourth tone, falling) jìngrán (fourth tone, falling) néng (second tone, rising) kàndǒng (fourth tone, falling) Zhōngwén (first tone, high and level) diànyǐng (fourth tone, falling) le. (neutral tone)···
After only six months of Chinese, she can actually follow Chinese films.
Incorrect — Common mistakes
These sentences are wrong. They are printed here on purpose, each one paired with the repair and the reason, because the error you can recognise is the error you stop making.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 竟然他不会回答。
Correct
Correct sentence: 他竟然不会回答。
Why: 竟然 is an adverb and follows the subject.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 他不竟然知道。
Correct
Correct sentence: 他竟然不知道。
Why: The surprise is about the whole negative fact, so 竟然 comes before 不, not after it.
Not quite
Incorrect sentence: 我早就知道他会来，他竟然来了。
Correct
Correct sentence: 我以为他不会来，他竟然来了。
Why: 竟然 means the outcome went against what the speaker expected. If you knew he would come, his coming is no surprise; 果然 is the word for “just as expected”.
Compared with
Most errors with this pattern are not errors about this pattern — they are a neighbouring pattern arriving at the wrong moment. Read these side by side.
竟然 and 原来 both follow a surprise, but at different moments. 竟然 is the reaction to an unexpected fact: 他竟然是你哥哥！ “He’s your brother?!” 原来 is the moment the puzzle resolves, when you learn the truth that explains something: 原来他是你哥哥，怪不得你们长得很像 “So he’s your brother — that’s why you look alike.” Ask whether the sentence expresses astonishment (竟然) or understanding (原来).
So that’s it: 原来 for discoveries →Mini quiz
Question 1 / 3Total score: 0
Choose the word that completes 我以为这次考试很难，没想到___这么简单。