▎的話, de huà, if, supposing

 

Function The pattern …的話, appears at the very end of the ‘if’ part, while the ‘consequence’ part appears in the second clause.

1 酸辣湯太辣的話，你就別喝了。

Suānlàtāng tài là de huà, nǐ jiù bié hē le.

If the hot and sour soup is too spicy, don’t drink it.

2 你想轉系的話，最好先跟父母討論。

Nǐ xiǎng zhuǎnxì de huà, zuìhǎo xiān gēn fùmǔ tǎolùn.

If you want to change majors, it would be best if you discuss it with your parents first.

3 學生要參加社團的話，得先上網填申請表。

Xuéshēng yào cānjiā shètuán de huà, děi xiān shàngwǎng tián shēnqǐng biǎo.

If students want to take part in school clubs, they have to first go online and fill out a form.

4 我覺得外語能力不錯的話，念國際關係系比較適合。

Wǒ juéde wàiyǔ nénglì búcuò de huà, niàn guójì guānxi xì bǐjiào shìhé.

I believe that if one’s foreign language skills are pretty good, it would be more suitable to study international relations.

5 美美說拿到獎學金的話，就請我們看電影。

Měiměi shuō nádào jiǎngxuéjīn de huà, jiù qǐng wǒmen kàn diànyǐng.

Meimei said that if she gets a scholarhip, she will treat us to a movie.

 

Usage Conjunctions 如果rúguǒ or 要是yàoshì can be used together with the pattern above. In such cases, 的話 can be omitted. 的話 is more colloquial, while 如果/要是rúguǒ/yàoshì...（的話）is more formal.

1 如果你覺得這裡太吵的話，我們可以換一個地方繼續聊。

Rúguǒ nǐ juéde zhèlǐ tài chǎo de huà, wǒmen kěyǐ huàn yí ge dìfāng jìxù liáo.

If you think it’s too noisy here, we can continue our conversation somewhere else.

2 要是爸爸給我的生活費不夠的話，我就得去打工。

Yàoshì bàba gěi wǒ de shēnghuófèi búgòu de huà, wǒ jiù děi qù dǎ gōng.

If Dad doesn’t give me enough allowance money I’ll have to go work part time.