刚才不是挺厉害的吗
“You were acting tough just now, weren't you?”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
没事吧 佑儿
“Are you alright, Zhengyou?”
刚才 不是挺厉害的吗
“You were acting tough just now, weren't you?”
怎么
“What now?”
“You talked a big game a second ago, so why are you backing down now?”
Chinese speakers frequently employ negative rhetorical questions to deflate someone's unearned arrogance or mock false courage.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
weren't you quite ... just a moment ago?
A standard rhetorical frame used to point out a sharp, embarrassing contradiction between past bravado and present meekness.
formidable / fierce / tough
Can be positive praise, but within rhetorical negative frames it often carries sarcastic critique of aggressive behavior.
Forms a rhetorical question highlighting irony rather than asking for genuine information.
