说不清楚嘛
“I can't really explain it.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
那你为啥
“Then why do you...”
说不清楚 嘛
“I can't really explain it.”
但我得明白呀
“But I need to know.”
“Drop it, it is too complicated and awkward to explain right now.”
Claiming that something 'cannot be explained clearly' is a common indirect strategy in Chinese communication to preserve harmony or hide uncomfortable personal motives without lying.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
cannot be explained clearly; hard to say
A handy chunk to avoid elaborating when a topic is either convoluted or awkward.
Appeals to common understanding, nudging the listener to accept that the situation is naturally messy and stop pressing.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I… I don't even know how to say this.”
“I don't know how to explain it anyway.”
“I don't know how to explain it.”
“Well… I'm not sure.”
“Since you cannot explain it briefly,”
“I really have no idea.”
“I don't know. Ask my mom.”
“I don't want people getting the wrong idea.”
“And without him, a lot of things just can't be explained clearly.”
“We can't make it clear on the phone. What happened? Is it serious?”
“I'm not so sure about that.”
“I can't explain it to you either.”
“It doesn't matter if we don't fully understand.”
“I'm not quite sure about it.”