不料 (bú liào): unexpectedly, to one’s surprise

Meaning & Stroke Order

HSK 6conjunction

Word info

Pinyin
Meaning: unexpectedly, to one’s surprise
Characters: 2
Part of speech: conjunction
HSK level: HSK 6

Full definitions

unexpectedly
to ones surprise

Chinese explanation

表示事情发生得出乎意料，没有预先想到
常用来引出突然或没想到的结果，含有惊讶的语气，多用于已经发生的事情。

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Character breakdown

HSK 1

material

Example sentences

The weather was nice when I left home in the morning, but unexpectedly it started pouring in the afternoon, and I didn't even have an umbrella.

He had planned to go hiking on the weekend, but unexpectedly he came down with a fever on Friday night and had to cancel the plan.

We thought this exam would be easy, but unexpectedly the questions were much harder than usual, and many classmates didn't finish.

After graduation she always wanted to be a teacher, but unexpectedly she ended up working at a computer company, and she's doing extremely well.

I followed the map for half an hour, but unexpectedly I was going completely the wrong way, so I had to ask a police officer on the street for directions.

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