一来是想跟你开个玩笑
“Firstly, I wanted to play a joke on you.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
所以我打扮成这样
“So I dressed like this.”
一来是 想跟你 开个玩笑
“Firstly, I wanted to play a joke on you.”
二来是想看看
“Secondly, I wanted to see”
“I'm keeping things light by calling this a prank, but I actually wanted to test your reaction.”
In Chinese interpersonal communication, framing an action as 'just a joke' allows a speaker to test boundaries or observe someone's true reaction while maintaining a safe way to save face.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
in the first place / firstly
Often paired with '二来' (secondly) in spoken Chinese to list reasons or motives in a smooth, conversational way.
to make a joke / to play a prank
Very common everyday phrase used to lighten the mood or walk back a statement that might have been taken too seriously.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I thought she just came to laugh at me.”
“purely to watch him make a fool of himself.”
“I was just joking.”
“I was just joking.”