# You don't say!



## Yuca007

Hello knowledgeable people!

What is the Chinese equivalent to the phrase "You don't say!" in the meaning of: "What you just told me is totally common knowledge" or "You really needn't have pointed it out, it was obvious"? It has a somewhat ironic tone.

Thanks!


----------



## fyl

I guess "废话!" (This is completely useless/rubbish words!) is probably the phrase you are looking for.


----------



## Skatinginbc

「此話當真？」 ==> You say it in goggle-eyed amazement.  It would sound sarcastic and perhaps funny at the same time.


----------



## Yuca007

> I guess "废话!" (This is completely useless/rubbish words!) is probably the phrase you are looking for.


Judging from the literal translation, would it be considered rather impolite to say that? I'm looking for a phrase that is a bit tongne-in-cheek, not too serious. Like, "Ohh, you think I didn't know that, did you!".


> 「此話當真？」 ==> You say it in goggle-eyed amazement.  It would sound sarcastic and perhaps funny at the same time.


That's an interesting one. How is to be understood literally?


----------



## Skatinginbc

此話當真？ = Really?    
It is in Classical Chinese, which is NOT a natural response when you are truly amazed at something and simply make utterance without thinking.  It is one of the phrases that you may encounter in the Beijing opera 京剧 but not often in daily conversation.  With the Classical structure plus your exaggerated facial expression, the effect is sarcasm.

PS: I just think of a problem: You are not Chinese.  The listener may attribute the oddness to your Chinese ability and not interpret it as sarcasm.  My suggestion probably won't work for non-native speakers.


----------



## fyl

Yuca007 said:


> Judging from the literal translation, would it be considered rather impolite to say that? I'm looking for a phrase that is a bit tongne-in-cheek, not too serious. Like, "Ohh, you think I didn't know that, did you!".



This is impolite normally but it really depends on the way you say it. It can be acceptable if you say it in a soft way and with a smile. If you want to use it in 'rage comics' (Google gives me a lot of those things...), it is completely fine and polite enough to use.
Another phrase that has similar meaning is '还用你说？' (something like We need you to say that? No, everyone knows it.) The politeness also depends on the way you say it.

It is already impolite to say others' words are obvious. So most phrases with this meaning are a little bit impolite.

If you want a more polite one, probably '唐长老，打住吧！' would work when a person is saying a lot of useless things (not just a sentence) and you want him/her to stop. 唐长老(Monk Tang) is a formal way to call 唐僧 (sounds like Professor Tang, Doctor Tang), who was one of the most famous and admirable Chinese monks. There are a lot of novels, operas, movies about him and his story. 《大话西游》 was a funny comedy in which 唐僧 was a guy chattering constantly (very different from the traditional figure). This 唐长老 become common as many people used him to joke on chattering guys. '唐长老，打住吧！' is like saying 'Monk Tang, come to a stop please!'.

'此話當真?' means 'Is it real?/Are you sure?'. This seems quite different from the meaning provided by OP. But I find many places on the Internet that people translate 'You don't say' to '真的？' or something similar. So I was confused about the exact meaning of "you don't say"...


----------



## Skatinginbc

"You don't say", which basically means "I'm surprised that it is true", can be used (1) to express surprise or interest (==> usually translated as 真的？), or (2) as a response to something obvious (==> I think in some cases it corresponds to 此話當真?).  For instance,  
A: 我也是父母生的 (眾所周知的事實)
B: 此話當真? (睜大了眼一副不可思議的樣子 ==> 有諷刺幽默的效果).


----------



## rufeng_li

Do not nonsen.(不要说废话)
It should means it here.


----------



## kun2kun

There are several ways to say that

还用你说？- Does it need to be said?
Other variations: 这还用你说/这还用说/还用得着你说/还用得着你来说/这还用得着你来说？ etc

这谁不知道？Who doesn't know that?

谁不知道妈妈是女人？ Who doesn't know that a mother is a woman?
Directly translated from a Cantonese slang 鬼唔知阿妈係女人, but not uncommon in other parts of China too.
Quite ironic in my opinion.

废话 - What rubbish!
Short and simple, perhaps one of the most commonly used.
You can use this together with other phrases above
废话，还用你说？


----------



## SuperXW

还用你说？ Literally: "Still need you say?"
还用说？ "Still need say?"
那还用说？ “That still need say?”


----------



## brofeelgood

The first phrase that came to my mind was "不就是(嘛)!", which is equivalent to "Indeed!", "Exactly!" or more crudely "No shit!". In German, I'd say it's similar to "Genau!" or "in der Tat!". That's how I would use "You don't say" in English.

In the context that you cited, I agree with kun2kun and SuperXW that "还用说" comes closest. "废话" (useless words) also conveys the same message but it is a blatant way of expressing it. There's a bunch more...
- 三岁小孩也懂 (even a three year old knows that)
- (说了也)白说 (you might as well not say it)
- 多余 (redundant)


----------



## Skatinginbc

You don't say? (= No shit?) ==> 你沒瞎說?? (= 沒胡說? 真的?)
You don't say! (= No shit!) ==> 你沒瞎說!! (= 真的! 別說廢話, 那还用说!)
A: 我訂婚了!
B: 你沒瞎說?? (You don't say? = 真的?)

A: 我真愚蠢.
B: 你沒瞎說!! (You don't say! = 大家早知道了!  那还用说!)


----------



## shekel

Yuca007 said:


> Hello knowledgeable people!
> 
> What is the Chinese equivalent to the phrase "You don't say!" in the meaning of: "What you just told me is totally common knowledge" or "You really needn't have pointed it out, it was obvious"? It has a somewhat ironic tone.
> 
> Thanks!



I think the Chinese idiom could be: 显而易见.


----------



## seinword

If you want to be ironic, you could say:
你真聪明！(You are so smart!)
你太聪明了！(You are way too smart!)
你怎么这么聪明！(How can you be so smart!)

Example: (translated from the funny picture I googled "You don't say!" http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/You+don+t+say+.+meh_af911b_3395314.png)

女：你有兄弟姐妹吗？
男：嗯，我有一个双胞胎兄弟
女：我可以看下他的相片吗？
（男给女看了他手机里双胞胎兄弟的相片）
女：天哪，你长得好像他。
旁白：你真聪明！


----------



## kenosdi

you can say 
我又不是三岁小孩子 (I am not a 3 year old) or
这白痴都知道 (even an idiot knows about this) or
你能不说没用的吗？ (Can you not speak nonsense?)


----------

