gap fillers

[L-F-J]

i feel like when i talk about a subject in chinese my sentences dont always connect naturally. its like reading from a book or something. in english we use gap fillers or conjunctions, which can become bad habits but usually they can be dropped easily if you're giving a formal speech. they're semi-intentional. but in everyday conversation they are quite useful and frequent. we have gap fillers and conjunctions such as:

you know... i mean... yeah, so... like... but, you know.

when changing subject or the topic is still related but flowing from the previous we can say:

and so.. anyway.. etc..

what are the gap fillers in chinese? i feel like i need them to make my speech more natural. especially when i'm not so great at explaining something its a good way to get the point across or have the listener actively think about what i mean, rather than me just standing there between sentences.

[myuigone]

you know... 众所皆知，+ sentence or sentence

i mean... 我的意思是 ＋ sentence

yeah, so... 对，所以＋sentence

like... 就像＋sentence

but, you know....但(是)，你要知道+ sentence （It is a little bit unpoliteness, most use in aguing.）

but.....但是

becase of.....因为(啊——)＋sentence

and so....因此＋sentence

anyway....反正＋sentence

lazy conjunction， but very usefull：

for dedail：然后（啊——）

for reson：因为（啊——）

for explaining：酱子（=这样子）<－dont write 酱子in homework or any other formally

writing.Teacher will kill you!Just for speaking,OK?

for chage topic：不过

[L-F-J]

for explaining：酱子（=这样子）<－dont write 酱子in homework or any other formally

writing.Teacher will kill you!Just for speaking,OK?

thats hilarious! i've never heard of this one before.

thanks for sharing!

[ziyi star]

diddo... thanx for sharing

[L-F-J]

well... thinking about these, they are all pretty literal translations and we do hear them often, but i was wondering if there are other specifically "chinese" gap fillers, if you know what i mean. usually we can hear people (usually non-chinese) saying a lot of 这个这个那个那个... lol, but i hate that.

[Gulao]

那个那个那个那个那个那个那个……

Don't hate it. Love the 那个. Just remember to pronounce it "neige."

It also seems to be in vogue to say "um," like in English. I can't tell why it's so close to English (while the neutral vowel in Chinese is the same as English, they don't normally go for syllable-final m's), but I hear it on some TV shows and recordings.

You can also generally use 连词 such as 然后, 而且, etc. with an added 呢. Especially 然后.

[zhwj]

I've known a few people who have 就是说…… as a verbal tick.

In the northeast, 完了 is basically like 然后呢, and it's often used even when there's no continued relationship between the two sentences.

[gougou]

In the northeast, 完了 is basically like 然后呢

I hear 完了以后 a lot in Beijing.

[Koneko]

然后

While in the South, particularly in Singapore, it's 癫 borrowed from English "then".

K.

[L-F-J]

安癫 what do you say?

[Koneko]

安癫

Ha ha... precisely.

Did you also know that 安不癫 = 要不然?

K.