Skip to content
Mythic Mandarin

Luckily: 幸亏 and 多亏

HSK 5 Unit 4: Luck and necessity · Lesson 1 of 5 · About 26 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can say that something luckily happened and so avoided a bad result with 幸亏, and thank someone with 多亏.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 标准 mean?

    1. standard
    2. conclusion
    3. to lead to, to cause
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, standard.

    标准 (biāozhǔn) means standard.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to investigate, survey”?

    1. 此外
    2. 然而
    3. 调查
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 调查.

    “to investigate, survey” is 调查 (diàochá).

New words

  • 幸亏xìngkuīluckily, fortunately
  • 多亏duōkuīthanks to
  • 差点儿chàdiǎnralmost, nearly
  • 危险wēixiǎndanger, dangerous

幸亏 and 多亏

幸亏 (xìngkuī) is luckily: thanks to some circumstance, a bad result was avoided. The bad result often follows with 否则 or 不然. 多亏 (duōkuī) thanks a person or thing: thanks to you.

  • 幸亏我带了伞，否则就淋湿了。

    Xìngkuī wǒ dài le sǎn, fǒuzé jiù línshī le.

    Luckily I brought an umbrella, or I'd have got soaked.

  • 多亏你提醒我，我差点儿忘了。

    Duōkuī nǐ tíxǐng wǒ, wǒ chàdiǎnr wàng le.

    Thanks to your reminder; I nearly forgot.

  • 幸亏发现得及时，没有危险。

    Xìngkuī fāxiàn de jíshí, méiyǒu wēixiǎn.

    Luckily it was found in time, so there was no danger.

  • Not: 幸亏我带了伞，所以没淋湿。

    But: 幸亏我带了伞，才没淋湿。 Xìngkuī wǒ dài le sǎn, cái méi línshī.

    After 幸亏, the lucky result usually takes 才 (or the bad one 否则), not 所以.

Characters

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

The forgotten passport

Liu Fang almost missed her flight. She tells Li Ming.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

Helpful words: 伞 sǎn umbrella; 淋湿 línshī to get soaked; 摔倒 shuāidǎo to fall over

  1. Listening

    Listen first. What did Liu Fang forget?

    1. her passport
    2. her ticket
    3. her phone
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, her passport.

    护照忘在家里了.

  2. Listening

    What else helped her?

    1. she took a fast taxi
    2. a friend drove her there
    3. the flight was delayed
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, the flight was delayed.

    幸亏航班晚点了半个小时.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 刘芳

    今天Jīntiān差点儿chàdiǎnr没méi赶gǎn上shàng飞机fēijī！

    I nearly missed my flight today!

  2. 李明

    怎么Zěnme了le？

    What happened?

  3. 刘芳

    到Dào了le机场jīchǎng才cái发现fāxiàn护照hùzhào忘wàng在zài家jiā里lǐ了le。幸亏Xìngkuī我wǒ妈妈māma马上mǎshàng给gěi我wǒ送sòng来lái了le。

    At the airport I realised I'd left my passport at home. Luckily my mum brought it straight over.

  4. 李明

    多亏Duōkuī你nǐ妈妈māma！否则Fǒuzé你nǐ就jiù去不了qùbuliǎo了le。

    Thank goodness for your mum! Otherwise you couldn't have gone.

  5. 刘芳

    是Shì啊a。幸亏Xìngkuī航班hángbān晚点wǎndiǎn了le半bàn个gè小时xiǎoshí，我wǒ才cái来得及láidejí。

    Yes. Luckily the flight was delayed by half an hour, so I just made it.

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 今天差点儿没赶上飞机！

    Jīntiān chàdiǎnr méi gǎn shàng fēijī!

    I nearly missed my flight today!

  • 多亏你妈妈！否则你就去不了了。

    Duōkuī nǐ māma! Fǒuzé nǐ jiù qùbuliǎo le.

    Thank goodness for your mum! Otherwise you couldn't have gone.

  • 是啊。幸亏航班晚点了半个小时，我才来得及。

    Shì a. Xìngkuī hángbān wǎndiǎn le bàn gè xiǎoshí, wǒ cái láidejí.

    Yes. Luckily the flight was delayed by half an hour, so I just made it.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 幸亏 mean?

    1. luckily, fortunately
    2. dog
    3. football, soccer
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, luckily, fortunately.

    幸亏 (xìngkuī) means luckily, fortunately.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “thanks to”?

    1. 参加
    2. 多亏
    3. 比例
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 多亏.

    “thanks to” is 多亏 (duōkuī).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 差点儿 (almost, nearly)?

    1. chàdiànr
    2. chàdiǎnr
    3. chǎdiǎnr
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, chàdiǎnr.

    差点儿 is read chàdiǎnr. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    危险 wēixiǎn

    1. I, me
    2. downstairs
    3. danger, dangerous
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, danger, dangerous.

    You heard 危险 (wēixiǎn): danger, dangerous.

  5. Your turn

    Recall: type the Chinese for “luckily, fortunately” (characters or pinyin).

    Show the answer

    Answer: 幸亏

    “luckily, fortunately” is 幸亏 (xìngkuī).

  6. Grammar

    Which sentence is right?

    1. 幸亏你来了，所以否则我不知道怎么办。
    2. 幸亏你来了，但是我不知道怎么办。
    3. 幸亏你来了，否则我不知道怎么办。
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 幸亏你来了，否则我不知道怎么办。.

    幸亏你来了，否则我不知道怎么办。: 幸亏…否则…: luckily …, otherwise ….

  7. Fill the gap

    Complete: Thanks to your help, I finished on time.

    ＿＿你的帮助，我按时完成了。

    1. 幸亏
    2. 多亏
    3. 差点儿
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 多亏.

    多亏 + person or thing: thanks to.

  8. In context

    You almost fell but didn't. What do you say?

    1. 我差点儿摔倒了吧。
    2. 我差点儿摔倒。
    3. 我差摔倒。
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 我差点儿摔倒。.

    我差点儿摔倒。: 差点儿: nearly.

  9. Your turn

    Type the Chinese for luckily

    Show the answer

    Answer: 幸亏

    幸亏: luckily.

Lucky escapes

Tell three lucky escapes out loud, with 幸亏, 多亏 and 否则.

  1. Something you nearly forgot.
  2. Someone who helped you.
  3. What would have happened otherwise.

Sentence frames

  • 幸亏＿＿，否则＿＿。

    Xìngkuī ＿＿, fǒuzé ＿＿.

    Luckily ..., otherwise ...

  • 多亏＿＿，＿＿。

    Duōkuī ＿＿, ＿＿.

    Thanks to ..., ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I use 幸亏 for luckily and 多亏 to thank someone or something.
  • I can say nearly with 差点儿.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: It's bound to happen: 难免