竟然 (jìngrán) vs 居然 (jūrán)

竟然 (jìngrán) vs 居然 (jūrán)

1. 竟然 and 居然 both are adverbs used to indicate something is unexpected, abnormal, or irregular. They indicate something bad or something good is unexpected.

e.g.

我男朋友竟然/居然骗我！(Wǒ nán péngyǒu jìngrán/jūrán piàn wǒ!) My boyfriend lied to me!

你才来中国半年，中文竟然/居然说得这么好！(Nǐ cái lái Zhōngguó bànnián, Zhōngwén jìngrán/jūrán shuō de zhème hǎo!) You have only come to China for half a year, and you can speak Chinese so well!

你起得那么晚，竟然/居然比我先到学校。(Nǐ qǐ de nàme wǎn, jìngrán/jūrán bǐ wǒ xiān dào xuéxiào.) You got up so late and went to school before me.

2. Somebody / something + 竟然 + ……

Note that 竟然 can be replaced by 竟. 竟然 is usually used in spoken Chinese, while 竟 can be used either in spoken or written Chinese.

e.g.

妈妈的生日你竟然忘了。(Māma de shēngrì nǐ jìngrán wàngle.) You forgot about mom’s birthday.

这个男人竟然打小孩。(Zhège nánrén jìngrán dǎ xiǎohái.) This man hit the child unexpectedly.

没想到你竟如此聪明。(Méi xiǎngdào nǐ jìng rúcǐ cōngmíng.) I didn’t expect you to be so smart.

我太紧张了，竟忘了向他表示感谢。(Wǒ tài jǐnzhāngle, jìng wàngle xiàng tā biǎoshì gǎnxiè.) I was so nervous that I forgot to thank him.

3. Somebody / something + 居然 + ……

         居然 + somebody / something + ……

But, 居然 is more emphatic than 竟然.

e.g.

他居然跟我道歉了，我以为他不会承认自己错了呢。(Tā jūrán gēn wǒ dàoqiànle, wǒ yǐwéi tā bú huì chéngrèn zìjǐ cuòle ne.)

居然他跟我道歉了，我以为他不会承认自己错了呢。(Jūrán tā gēn wǒ dàoqiànle, wǒ yǐwéi tā bú huì chéngrèn zìjǐ cuòle ne.)

He actually apologized to me, I thought he would not admit that he was wrong.

 

这么大的通知，你居然没看见。(Zhème dà de tōngzhī, nǐ jūrán méi kànjiàn.)

这么大的通知，居然你没看见。(Zhème dà de tōngzhī, jūrán nǐ méi kànjiàn.)

You didn’t even see such a big notice.