Meaning of 难道
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- don't tell me ...
- could it be that...?
How to use 难道
难道 starts a rhetorical question that shows surprise or disbelief, and the sentence often ends with 吗 (ma). The speaker usually expects the answer to be the opposite of what is asked. Example: 难道你不知道吗？ (Nándào nǐ bù zhīdào ma?) Don't tell me you didn't know?
难 (nán) means difficult and 道 (dào) means to say. Think of 难道 as "is it hard to say that...?", a doubtful voice asking if something could really be true.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes use 难道 for a neutral yes or no question, but it always carries surprise or challenge, so 难道你是学生吗？ sounds like you doubt the person is a student. Also keep the tone on 难 as second tone nán, not fourth tone nàn as in 灾难 (zāinàn).
难道 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
难 nán · difficult · 10 strokes
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道 dào · road · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 难道.
| 知道 | zhīdào | to know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5] |
| 味道 | wèidào | flavor; taste; (fig.) feeling (of ...); sense (of ...); hint (of ...) |
| 难过 | nánguò | to feel sad; to feel unwell |
| 道理 | dàolǐ | reason; argument |
| 道路 | dàolù | road; path |
| 难受 | nánshòu | to feel unwell; to suffer pain |
| 难看 | nánkàn | ugly; unsightly |
| 难题 | nántí | difficult problem |
| 难听 | nántīng | unpleasant to hear; coarse |
| 困难 | kùnnan | difficult; challenging |
| 报道 | bàodào | to report (news); report |
| 难度 | nándù | degree of difficulty |
Questions about 难道
What does 难道 mean?
难道 (nándào) means "don't tell me ...; could it be that...?" and is used as a adverb.
How do you write 难道?
难道 is made of 2 characters: 难 (10 strokes), 道 (12 strokes). That is 22 strokes in total.
Is 难道 an HSK word?
Yes. 难道 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 难道 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 难道 is written 難道.
Can I leave out 吗 after a 难道 question?
Yes. In speech people often drop 吗 or use 不成 at the end, as in 难道他走了？ (Nándào tā zǒu le?) The rhetorical meaning stays the same.
Where does 难道 go in the sentence?
It usually comes at the start of the sentence or right after the subject. Both 难道你忘了？ and 你难道忘了？ (Nǐ nándào wàng le?) are correct and mean "Could you have forgotten?"