Difference between 难道 and 莫非？

[Marcus 马莫非 Murphy]

Hello everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster!

Can anyone help introduce the differences between 难道 and 莫非? A link to a website in Mandarin would be fine. Have searched for ages and found nothing, and none of my 近义词辨析 dictionaries have an introduction. A set of exercises would also be helpful.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Marcus

[Peter2010]

take a look at these: 莫非 难道

[Marcus 马莫非 Murphy]

Thank you for the reply Peter! It looks like this reiterates the fact that they are quite similar. Below are a couple of conclusions I have come up with and would love to hear others comments. Again, if anyone knows where to find some exercises for distinguishing these two it would be greatly appreciated. Have to teach them in a few days.

难道 seems a bit more informal, more common and it also seems to strengthen the rhetorical nature of the sentence, therefore a response is not necessary.

莫非 seems a bit more formal, less common and although also used most often in rhetorical questions, it may be more likely to receive a response.

Any comments, help?

[Peter2010]

You're right, both 难道 and 莫非 could be used in rhetorical questions, and they are interchangeable in that case. I don't think one of them is likely to receive a response while the other one is not.

e.g.Q: 难道你不知道？=莫非你不知道？

A: 我当然知道

However, they have totally different meanings in narrative sentence.

e.g.

1、这事可难道(=难说，hard to say).

2、普天之下莫非(=全、都是)王土.（all lands belong to the king）

[Kenny同志]

普天之下莫非王土 If I am correct, it was said by 趙敏.

[semantic nuance]

@Marcus: wondering if you've checked this 莫非 / 難道 in word forum?

I'll give a few examples, and hear from other members' ideas.

A.

1. 他都已經低聲下氣了，難道就不能原諒他一次嗎?

2. 他都已經低聲下氣了，莫非就不能原諒他一次嗎?

1. 等都等這麼久了，難道就不能再多等一下嗎?

2. 等都等這麼久了，莫非就不能再多等一下嗎?

1. 不要再無理取鬧了，難道你就不能為了我顧全大局?

2. 不要再無理取鬧了，莫非你就不能為了我顧全大局?

B.

1. 他說話支支吾吾，難道他有難言之隱?

2. 他說話支支吾吾，莫非他有難言之隱?

1. 她不肯讓我一起參加聚會，難道她心裡有鬼?

2. 她不肯讓我一起參加聚會，莫非她心裡有鬼?

[anonymoose]

What determines whether a 难道 sentence has a 吗 at the end or not? Is a 莫非 sentence necessarily a question?

[semantic nuance]

In #6. I gave 2 sets of sentence examples. To me, the sentences in Set B 難道 and 莫非 are interchangeable while those in Set A, I'd use 難道 instead of 莫非。