# 居然/竟然



## T.D

英语里是不是没有和中文”居然/竟然”完全对应的词，而是使用句式，语气来表达这个情感？

我唯一能想到的是 actually   

他居然做到了。  He actually did it. 
但是在另一些场合下，比如武侠小说中常见的，某人被人暗算，发现是自己的好朋友，他会说：“没想到居然是你。” 这句话如果翻译成  I never thought it would be you. 听上去尚可，不过缺失了“竟然”的意思。但是强行加上actually又会显得很奇怪。

而且我总觉得actually和竟然所表达的意思还是有差距。
各位有什么建议吗？


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## Lamb67

please see " did you ever! " in Ever - WordReference.com 英汉词典


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## SimonTsai

我沒想到會是你。 ==> I didn't expect that it would be you.
我沒想到居然是你。==> I never [= not ever] thought that it would be you.
我萬萬沒想到居然會是你。 ==> I genuinely had no idea that it would turn out to be you.


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## retrogradedwithwind

查了一下，居然的意思是“没有预料到，出乎意料”，所以可以翻译成unexpected?


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## Lamb67

居字的解释---在线新华字典 gives  unexpectedLY, an adverb.


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## SuperXW

那还可以用surprisingly呢……但无论用哪个，确实都和汉语用法不同。Simon的句子就不适合用这类副词。
日常大部分时候只是用其它方法+语气表达惊讶吧。


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## little black bean

竟然：he dare to eat my cake.
居然：I don't think he thought my cake so good and he even eats it.


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## SimonTsai

I was recently wondering if there is a difference in meaning between '居然' and '竟然', so I did a Google search and found many articles on this, but most of them are rather confusing.

Here is the one that I found the most easy to follow: '"居然" 和 "竟然" 這兩個詞怎麼區別'. The poster claimed *[1]* that '居然' is more often than not used when something happens against, rather than simply contrary to, the speaker's expectation; and *[2]* that '居然' generally connotes a stronger emotion. Does anyone agree or disagree?


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## T.D

Speaking for myself, I use 居然 to emphasise frustration -- something happened against my will, and 竟然 to emphasise my shock -- I can't believe it is actually happening.

But often these two meanings contain each other.
这么个破玩意儿居然要卖50块钱。 （我本来以为会更便宜, against my will/expectation）
这么个破玩意儿竟然要卖50块钱。 （I'm shocked by the price）

I can't think of a situation where either could work while the other can't, for now.


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## Boyar

T.D said:


> 英语里是不是没有和中文”居然/竟然”完全对应的词...


在英语里有“unbelievably”“can't believe”等来表达这个情感：
unbelievably (it's unbelievable ...)
I can't believe (nobody can believe ...)



T.D said:


> “没想到居然是你。” 这句话如果翻译成 I never thought it would be you.


“没想到居然是你。” = I can't believe it's actually you! (在武侠小说中：You?! I would never believe it!..)

详情请查看该讨论串：居然



Lamb67 said:


> 居字的解释---在线新华字典


带着好奇心，我查了那本字典：


> 居然
> jūrán
> 〖unexpectedly〗表示出乎意料
> 这么重的担子,他居然挑着走了二十里



我以为这句话可以这样翻译：

Such a heavy load, it's unbelievable he actually carried it for twenty miles.


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## SimonTsai

T.D said:


> Speaking for myself, I use 居然 to [...] and 竟然 to [...]


Thanks for the reply. I personally am not with that poster and would say that they are practically interchangeable. Here is an excerpt from 紅樓夢, which includes both:

寶玉看見雪雁，猶想：「因何紫鵑不來，倒是她呢？」又想道：「是了，雪雁原是她南邊家裏帶來的 [……]。」因此，見了雪雁【竟】如見了黛玉的一般歡喜。 [……] 賈政原為賈母作主，不敢違拗，不信沖喜之說，那知今日寶玉【居然】像個好人一般；賈政見了，倒也喜歡。 ​
I was also wondering, how did the characters '居' and '然' come together to the meaning 'unexpectedly'? To my knowledge, '居' originally means '踞', to squat. The commonest meaning of the character today is '處', to settle down. Neither seems to be relevant.


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## Amy Lancer

should有时候也可以用来表示“居然/竟然” 
在the Guardian上面找到了这样的例句
 It's absolutely outrageous that you should call the prime minister a complete idiot. 
翻译成中文大概是，“你居然/竟然骂首相是智障，太过分了”

source:  Everyone needs to tighten their belts – except for Tory MPs, that is


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## Boyar

Amy Lancer said:


> “你*居然/竟然*骂首相是智障，太过分了”


翻译成英文大概是："It is absolutely outrageous that you _*dare*_ to call the Prime Minister an idiot".



Amy Lancer said:


> It's absolutely outrageous that you should call the prime minister a complete idiot.


should用于假设语气句：


> ... _should_ (also called _emotional "should"_) occurs in _that_ clauses "after expressions of emotion (sorrow, joy, displeasure, surprise, wonder, etc.)
> ...
> Examples
> "It is *surprising* that you _*should*_ find this practice shocking...
> "It is *sad* that you _*should*_ talk such nonsense...
> 
> What Is Putative 'Should' in English Grammar?


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## Amy Lancer

Boyar said:


> 翻译成英文大概是："It is absolutely outrageous that you _*dare*_ to call the Prime Minister an idiot".
> 
> 
> should用于假设语气句：


Yes, Putative structure sometimes contains the message of "unexpected/surprising." Therefore, when translated from English into Chinese, we often render the structure into 竟然

However, when we translate from Chinese to English, most people seldom think of this possible option.


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