How to use 竟然；竟
Subject + 竟然 / 竟 + predicate
竟然 marks a fact as surprising relative to an expectation. The surprise may concern success, failure, someone's behavior, or an unexpected combination of circumstances. It highlights the gap between what the speaker anticipated and what actually appears to be true. The expression does not itself mean that the result is bad, although disapproval can be especially strong in an accusation or rhetorical question.
Put 竟然 before the predicate, commonly after the subject. The shorter 竟 has a related function and often fits concise written language. 居然 overlaps closely in meaning, but a fixed intensity ranking between the two is unreliable across contexts. Let the surrounding situation and intonation establish how strong the speaker's surprise or criticism is.
Examples with pinyin and English
这么简单的问题，他竟然答错了。
He actually got such a simple question wrong.
竟然 marks a result contrary to the expected ease.
十年没见，她竟然还记得我的名字。
After ten years apart, she surprisingly still remembered my name.
The surprise is favorable rather than critical.
我只试了一次，竟然成功了。
I only tried once and, to my surprise, succeeded.
The outcome exceeds the speaker's expectation.
What to remember
- Use 竟然 for a departure from expectation.
- Allow favorable or unfavorable surprises.
- Avoid assigning a fixed intensity ranking against 居然.
Practise the pattern
Use one example as a model. Change the people, objects or situation, keeping the grammar pattern in the same order. Read the explanation again to check how your sentence uses the construction.
Look up the grammar words
Source and editorial notes
Explanation and examples written for Laowai using the grammar curriculum as a topic reference. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.