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MandarinClips Cinema Corpus
《Unsettled Case》 S1·E1 (51:40) HSK 6
- nǐ zài jǐng chá jú gōng zuò guò ? - suàn shì ba

- 你在警察局工作过? - 算是吧

“- What, you worked for the police? - Sort of.”

《Unsettled Case》 S1·E1
TIMECODE: 51:40 · 1080P MASTER AUDIO

THE DIALOGUE REEL

1+1+1 SPOKEN CONTINUITY
[-1] PREVIOUS TURN dà bù fèn shí hòu zhǐ yǒu wǒ zài zhuī chá

大部分时候 只有我在追查

“I was the only one looking.”

- nǐ zài jǐng chá jú gōng zuò guò ? - suàn shì ba CURRENT FOCUS

- 你在警察局 工作 过? - 算是吧

“- What, you worked for the police? - Sort of.”

[+1] FOLLOW-UP TURN suàn shì ba ?

算是吧?

“Sort of?”

Subtitles synced to millisecond timecode Browse Show Clips →
Scene: Legal & Police
Function: RELUCTANT ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Tone: EVASIVE
Emotion: HESITATION
WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN (PRAGMATIC SUBTEXT)
“It's complicated, but technically yes, though I don't want to get into the details.”
💡 Cultural Insight: Ambiguous Self-Identification

Chinese speakers often use softening hedges like '算是吧' to avoid claiming full authority, maintain humility, or avoid scrutiny over formal institutional credentials.

INTENT TAGS: #hedging #evasion #qualifying #reluctance
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LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES

1 CHUNKS · 1 PARTICLES
算是吧 SPOKEN CHUNK

Kind of / you could say that

Use this spoken phrase to offer a qualified or hesitant confirmation when something is technically true but requires nuance.

Modal Particle「吧」 (ba) CHANGE OF STATE

Softens the assertion and introduces vagueness or reluctant agreement rather than a definitive affirmative.

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VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS

2 EXPR · 6 GRAMMAR
CROSS-CINEMA CORPUS BOARD · PARALLEL SCENES

Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)

EXPLORE BY SEMANTIC SIMILARITY
《Unsettled Case》 S1·E1 (51:40) · Authentic Cinema Dialogue Corpus