要不是我军绕了路
“If our army hadn't taken a detour,”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
也挺好的
“quite nice.”
要不是 我军绕了路
“If our army hadn't taken a detour,”
也碰不上你们
“we wouldn't have run into you.”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
Chinese speakers often view accidental encounters during hardship or tactical blunders as destined coincidences that bring good fortune.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
if it were not for; were it not that
A highly common spoken connective used to introduce a counterfactual premise that averted or caused a specific outcome.
took a detour
Used literally for traveling along a longer route, or metaphorically for undergoing unnecessary delays and struggles.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“may seem like a detour.”
“seems like a detour,”
“Something must have gone wrong on the road.”
“Why did you have a detour to pick me up?”
“If it weren't for this war...”
“Don't take the long way. Cops have it hard too.”