我跟你说了 你忘了吧
“I told you. You must've forgotten.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
你怎么没跟我说一声啊
“Why didn't you tell me?”
我跟你说 了 你忘了 吧
“I told you. You must've forgotten.”
“Alright, go ahead. We can talk later.”
“Don't blame me; it is your fault for forgetting, not mine for not telling you.”
Suggesting that someone simply forgot rather than directly accusing them of being inattentive softens interpersonal friction while still defending one's own innocence.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
I already told you
Commonly used in spoken Chinese to establish that notice was previously given and defend against accusations of negligence.
You must have forgotten / Did you forget?
A polite yet firm way to shift responsibility for an oversight onto the listener's memory.
Indicates completion of the action, asserting that the act of telling already took place.
Softens the assertion into a tentative supposition, softening the direct accusation that the other person forgot.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you.”
“when you snatched the sheep and salt?”
“Let me tell you.”
“I forgot to tell you that she asked you to call her back.”
“Have you forgotten all of that?”
“Oh, right. I was too busy a while ago and forgot to tell you.”