却/倒: unexpected contrast
Both mark a surprising reversal — the second clause goes against what the context or logic would predict.
Position: immediately after the subject of the second clause (they are adverbs, not conjunctions).
| Word | Register | Nuance |
|------|----------|--------|
| 却 | neutral/formal | strong unexpected contrast |
| 倒 | colloquial | softer irony or mild concession |
✅ 他明明很聪明，成绩却很差。(Smart but somehow bad grades — unexpected)
✅ 我以为很难，做起来倒挺简单。(Thought it'd be hard; turned out easy — mild surprise)
Common mistake: 却/倒 cannot start a sentence — they need a subject before them.
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 他努力练习了很久，比赛的成绩却不太理想。 | Tā nǔ lì liàn xí le hěn jiǔ, bǐ sài de chéng jī què bù tài lǐ xiǎng. | He practised hard for a long time, yet his competition results were not ideal. | 却 signals the unexpected gap between effort and result |
| 我以为这件事很容易，没想到做起来倒挺复杂的。 | Wǒ yǐ wéi zhè jiàn shì hěn róng yì, méi xiǎng dào zuò qǐ lái dào tǐng fù zá de. | I thought this would be easy; surprisingly, doing it turned out to be quite complicated. | 倒 softens the reversal (colloquial); 挺 adds casual register |
| 大家都担心她会哭，她倒笑着说没关系。 | Dà jiā dōu dān xīn tā huì kū, tā dào xiào zhe shuō méi guān xi. | Everyone worried she would cry, but she actually laughed it off and said it was fine. | 倒 + mild irony: others' worry is confounded by her actual calm reaction |
却/倒 is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
Start at your true level