# 难道 / 莫非



## Staarkali

Hello all,

is there any difference between 难道 and 莫非? are they interchangeable?
Ex:
难道我那么快就完蛋了 (can we replace 难道 by 莫非?)

Thanks in advance!


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## Jerry Chan

I can't really tell the difference between them.


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## akassi

People dont use these phrases a lot , ... not orallly

In general, 莫非 is more formal than 难道 ,they both mean 是不是( or not ) ;

and 莫非 is often followed by 你， and 难道 can be used both in front of the word 我 

or 你.


Hopefully i can make myself clear here.


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## Darren_Wu

We just don't use 我莫非... here

Any other way is acceptable.

难道is used more frequent.


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## YangMuye

我莫非 sounds fine to me.


> 《二十年目睹之怪现状》第二回：“我心中暗想，这等人如何会偷东西，莫非错疑了人么？”
> 老舍 《女店员》第二幕第二场：“莫非我看错了人？不能啊！”
> 《金瓶梅词话》第三七回：“你若肯时，他还等我回话去，典田卖地，你两家愿意，我莫非説谎不成？”



莫(Do not)非(not be) = it must be
similar phrases are 莫不是，莫不成，別不是...
When all your guesses are proved to be wrong, no matter how impossible the last one looks like, it must be the fact, then you can say "莫非是……?" It shows something is uncertain, unbelievable, surprising or unexpected. You may find 莫非 is usually used with “不可能吧？”、“不成？”、“真沒想到。”、“竟然”

難(hard)道(to say)
It directly shows you are uncertain.
It's usually used with a rhetorical mood, and only has grammatical function.


莫非我那么快就完蛋了
難道我那么快就完蛋了
(莫非 here shows the process you realized "我那么快就完蛋了", 難道 shows a stronger rhetorical and uncertain tone)


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## doreimi

莫非”多表示疑问或揣测的语气，一般不表示反问语气；“难道”多用于反问句，表示反问语气。
如：“取民俸禄却不能为民分忧，难道你就一点也不感到惭愧吗?”，表示反问。
“她好几天都不理我了，莫非我说错了什么？”表示猜测。

但是“难道”用的场合更多，除了表反问，表猜测也是可以的，如：
“你为什么不理我？难道我说错了？”
1.反问，意思=（既然）我没有说错，（那么）你为什么不理我。
2.猜测，意思=会不会/是不是/可不可能我说错了，所以你才不理我。

用“难道”的时候，要分清到底是反问还是猜测，关键要看语气。语气很重，很生硬，一般是反问；语气比较轻，比较柔和，一般是猜测。
另外，表示猜测的时候，用“莫非”比用“难道”更正式，更书面化一些。

希望这个解答能对你有帮助。


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## Jerry Chan

doreimi said:


> 莫非”多表示疑问或揣测的语气，一般不表示反问语气；“难道”多用于反问句，表示反问语气。
> 如：“取民俸禄却不能为民分忧，难道你就一点也不感到惭愧吗?”，表示反问。
> “她好几天都不理我了，莫非我说错了什么？”表示猜测。
> 
> 但是“难道”用的场合更多，除了表反问，表猜测也是可以的，如：
> “你为什么不理我？难道我说错了？”
> 1.反问，意思=（既然）我没有说错，（那么）你为什么不理我。
> 2.猜测，意思=会不会/是不是/可不可能我说错了，所以你才不理我。
> 
> 用“难道”的时候，要分清到底是反问还是猜测，关键要看语气。语气很重，很生硬，一般是反问；语气比较轻，比较柔和，一般是猜测。
> 另外，表示猜测的时候，用“莫非”比用“难道”更正式，更书面化一些。
> 
> 希望这个解答能对你有帮助。



Perfect!
Simply put, 难道 can be used either you're not sure of something, or you're damn sure.
So, 難道是你 has 2 meanings:
1. Could it be you?
2. It definitely isn't you. (當然是某某, 難道是你)

Whereas 莫非是你 only has the first meaning.

I wasn't aware of this. Thanks.


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## xiaolijie

> Simply put, 难道 can be used either you're not sure of something, or you're damn sure.
> So, 難道是你 has 2 meanings:
> 1. Could it be you?
> 2. It definitely isn't you. (當然是某某, 難道是你)
> 
> Whereas 莫非是你 only has the first meaning.


My understanding is slightly different:
难道 is used mostly as a rhetorical device (for 反问句) , whereas 莫非 can be used both to express real doubt (猜测) or just for rhetorical purposes (反问).


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## Jerry Chan

xiaolijie said:


> My understanding is slightly different:
> 难道 is used mostly as a rhetorical device (for 反问句) , whereas 莫非 can be used both to express real doubt (猜测) or just for rhetorical purposes (反问).



This is from 國語辭典(台灣教育部)
*莫非
*2 難道。表示揣測的疑問詞。三國演義˙第三十五回：「將軍莫非破黃巾劉玄德否？」

A real rhetorical question will be: 你為什麼不喜歡她, 難道她不美嗎? (She's in fact pretty!)
If you change it to 你為什麼不喜歡她, 莫非她不美? I'll interpret it as a real question on whether it's because she's not pretty enough.


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## xiaolijie

That's right. 國語辭典 seems to be saying what I said above: 莫非 is used both for 反问句 (just like 难道) and 疑问句.

Edit: Here is a helpful note I found in 高级汉语词典： “*莫非*和*难道*： *莫非*可以表示反问，还可以表示猜测；*难道*只表示反问，不表示猜测。*莫非*语气较轻；*难道*语气较重。”


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## sysdzw

跟老外学中文


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## Jerry Chan

xiaolijie said:


> That's right. 國語辭典 seems to be saying what I said above: 莫非 is used both for 反问句 (just like 难道) and 疑问句.
> 
> Edit: Here is a helpful note I found in 高级汉语词典： “*莫非*和*难道*： *莫非*可以表示反问，还可以表示猜测；*难道*只表示反问，不表示猜测。*莫非*语气较轻；*难道*语气较重。”



Thanks, Xiolijia

國語辭典只說「表示揣測的疑問詞」，並無提及反問句。
不過我查了幾本辭典，的確有說「表示揣測或反問」。
這問題值得再找些例句加以討論。

至於難道，國語辭典說「加強反問語氣的副詞」，而google dictionary則也給出「表示疑惑或揣測的語氣」的解釋。
doreimi的例句“你为什么不理我？难道我说错了？”我認為除了反問之外，的確是有揣測的語氣。

這兩詞用法之分別*莫非*有甚麼地區性？*難道*不同地方的人用法不一樣？
希望版友們多舉些例子說明一下。


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## doreimi

“莫非”一般只表示猜测， 在表示反问的时候，等同于“难道”。这时要根据上下文来推断。
如： 
莫非经专家鉴定过的东西也叫人信不过吗？
=难道经专家鉴定过的东西也叫人信不过吗？
=经专家鉴定过的东西叫人信得过。-表示反问。

又如： 
病成这样了，你还不去看医生，莫非你想担心死我呀！
=……………………………………难道你想担心死我呀！
那么这句话的反问又有点小小的不同，是说话者在生气的时候的反话，我们一般会把这句话理解成： 
既然你不想让我太担心，你就赶紧去看医生！
或者：除非你真的故意想让我担心，不然你就赶紧去看医生吧！

再看这个：
你没日没夜地工作，莫非你是机器人？
这句句子中，我们都能看出，实际上对方不可能是机器人，所以这时候“莫非”就成了反问的用法。 
= 你不是机器人，你不可以没日没夜的工作。（否则身体会坏的。）
但如果，出现在科幻小说中或者别的一些特殊场合，里面有的人物确实就是机器人变来的，外表跟正常人类一样，却混杂在正常人类之中，那么这个时候，这个“莫非”就可以表示猜测，表怀疑。
=你能够没日没夜地工作，你会不会是机器人？（正常人类可做不到呢！）

总而言之， 在现代汉语中，莫非作为副词，一般情况下只表示猜测。 难道表示反问或猜测。 莫非在表示反问的时候，相当于难道。至于如何判断，可以通过上下文的内容、场景、语气等得出。

我想是这样的。欢迎大家讨论。


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## Staarkali

xiaolijie said:


> [...]
> Edit: Here is a helpful note I found in 高级汉语词典： “*莫非*和*难道*： *莫非*可以表示反问，还可以表示猜测；*难道*只表示反问，不表示猜测。*莫非*语气较轻；*难道*语气较重。”


Thanks, that's good to know!


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## xiaolijie

Jerry Chan said:
			
		

> 這兩詞用法之分別莫非有甚麼地區性？難道不同地方的人用法不一樣？


True, there may be some regional differences in the usage. In fact, there may be even differences among individual users. For this reason, I said in my original post that "my understanding is slightly different" in stead of judging things in terms of right & wrong.




			
				doreimi said:
			
		

> ....这时要根据上下文来推断。


Exactly, context is crucial for understanding what a particular sentence actually means. Very often, our differences are actually quite superficial, due mainly in the different contexts we have in mind about a particular sentence. And thank you for some very illuminating examples


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## Ghabi

Yes, there're probably some individual differences. For me, 莫非 is for real conjecture while 难道 is rhetorical. A girl yells at his boyfriend:   不是你错，难道是我错？In this case I can't imagine the girl using 莫非. The boy hasn't called the girl for some days, and the girl wonders: 莫非那家伙交了别的女孩？ In this case I can't imagine the girl using 难道. This is my personal preference, and other speakers are very likely to have different choices.


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## Jerry Chan

Ghabi said:


> Yes, there're probably some individual differences. For me, 莫非 is for real conjecture while 难道 is rhetorical. A girl yells at his boyfriend:   不是你错，难道是我错？In this case I can't imagine the girl using 莫非. The boy hasn't called the girl for some days, and the girl wonders: 莫非那家伙交了别的女孩？ In this case I can't imagine the girl using 难道. This is my personal preference, and other speakers are very likely to have different choices.



Thanks Ghabi.
*莫非*那家伙交了别的女孩？
I think 难道 works as well - my personal preference, of course.


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## junxi3q

Basically, 难道 and 莫非 have the same meaning, and they are interchageable in most cases. So you can choose either of them as you like. However, 难道 is more used at the present time while 莫非 is more used in the old time. As far as I know, people use "if" at the present time while "providing that" in the past to give an assumption. 难道 and 莫非 are similar. You'll have a better understanding of this if you're interested in Chinese culture. Have you ever seen a movie telling a story about Kongfu or something in the old time China? Characters in such movies, like scholars, masters of Kongfu, and anyone who is educated, are likely to use 莫非. So if you use 莫非 talking to your friends, they may thought "Wow, you're really well-educated and have a excellent understanding of Chinese culture!"


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## frank Chan

I can not really tell the difference between them too.
I just want to let  you know: just listen and use it frequently, that is the only way that you can use it correctly.
I am a Chinese.


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## JJchang

难道我那么快就完蛋了or 莫非我那么快就完蛋 both cannot stand alone by themselves.
难道 and 莫非 mean unless (à moins que..), and they introduce a condition to the clause in front. If you want to say "I cannot believe I die so quickly", you can say 我竟然那么快就完蛋了
难道 is more common now and you can still hear it in everyday conversation, 莫非 is very literal and I haven't heard people uttering that for years. Unless you intentionally want to sound like someone from a period drama as a joke, you can use this term. In writing both terms are fine, but I'd still say 莫非 reads more antique than 难道.


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## chencn

1,莫非多用于书面语
2，莫非常常见于古语中
3，莫非这个词在汉语中说起来要比难道语气中，表示更多的怀疑（当然，你汉语得说得够好）


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