Attitudinal adverbs indicate the speaker’s attitude or commitment toward what the speaker is saying. The adverbs, 真的 zhen1de0 ‘really’, 的确 di2que4 ‘indeed’, and 根本 gen1ben3 ‘(not) at all’, concern the truth or falsity of what is being said. Some attitudinal adverbs go with imperatives, for example, 千万 qian1wan4 ‘must always’, and some go with rhetorical questions, for example, 何必 he2bi4 ‘why bother’ and 难道 nan2dao4 ‘unbelievable unless it is the case that’. Concerning epistemicity, these adverbs include 难怪 nan2guai4 ‘no wonder’, 怪不得 guai4bu4de2 ‘no wonder’, 本来 ben2lai2 ‘originally’, and 原来 yuan2lai2 ‘originally, it was the case that’. Concerning the result, the ending, or the likely development of what is being said, these adverbs include 一定 yi1ding4 ‘definitely’, 恐怕 kong3pa4 ‘probably, (I am) afraid that’, 终究 zhong1jiu1 ‘after all’, 毕竟 bi4jing4 ‘after all’, 显然 xian3ran2 ‘apparently’, 反正 fan3zheng4 ‘one way or another’, and 好歹 hao2dai3 ‘for better or worse’.
Concerning the gap between one’s assumption or expectation and how things actually turn out, these adverbs include 恰好 qia4hao3 ‘fortuitously, coincidentally’, 正巧 zheng4qiao3 ‘coincidentally’, 幸亏 xing4kui1 ‘fortunately’, 好在 hao3zai4 ‘luckily’, 倒 dao4 ‘contrary to one’s expectation’, 反(而) fan3(er2) ‘contrary to one’s expectation’, 竟然 jing4ran2 ‘contrary to one’s expectation’, 偏偏 pian1(pian1) ‘contrary to one’s wish’, 居然 ju1ran2 ‘beyond one’s expectation’, and 其实 qi2shi2 ‘in fact, actually’. Concerning one’s strong will, compromise, or sense of making do, these adverbs include 偏 pian1 ‘insisting on having one’s will’, 宁可 . . . ning4ke3 . . . ‘(not) . . . but rather . . . ,’, 非得 fei1dei3 ‘insisting on having to’, 只好 zhi2hao3 ‘having no choice but’, and 不得不 bu4de2bu4 ‘having no choice but’.
Concerning the expression of one’s strong stance on what is being said, these adverbs include 绝对 jue2dui4 ‘definitely, absolutely’, 明明 ming2ming2 ‘obviously’, 简直 jian2zhi2 ‘simply, extremely’, 到底 dao4di3 ‘after all’, 究竟 jiu1jing4 ‘after all’, and 难道 nan2dao4 ‘unless it is the case that’. Concerning the expression of one’s concessive endorsement of what is being said, these adverbs include 无非 wu2fei1 ‘nothing but, just’, 不妨 bu4fang2 ‘why not’, 好像 hao3xiang4 ‘likely’, and 也许 ye2xu3 ‘perhaps’.
Reference
Biq, Yung-O and Chu-ren Huang. 2016. Adverbs. In A Reference Grammar of Chinese, eds. by Chu-Ren Huang and Dingxu Shi. Cambridge University Press.
