Chinese word

也就是说

Pronunciation

Pinyinyě jiù shì shuō

Meaning

  • conjunctionin other words

Example

明天会下雨，也就是说我们要取消野餐。míng tiān huì xià yǔ yě jiù shì shuō wǒ men yào qǔ xiāo yě cān

It will rain tomorrow; in other words, we have to cancel the picnic.

Illustration for 也就是说 (in other words)

More examples

他没有接电话，也就是说可能出了什么事。tā méi yǒu jiē diàn huà yě jiù shì shuō kě néng chū le shén me shì

He did not answer the phone; in other words, something may have happened.

Core concept

A turn from one wording of an idea to another wording that makes its point easier to grasp.

Common phrases

  • 也就是说我们无法如期完成项目yě jiù shì shuō wǒ men wú fǎ rú qī wán chéng xiàng mù

    in other words we cannot complete the project on schedule

  • 发生了变化，也就是说计划需要调整fā shēng le biàn huà yě jiù shì shuō jì huà xū yào tiáo zhěng

    things have changed, in other words the plan needs adjustment

Similar words

换句话说huàn jù huà shuō: Explains the previous point more clearly by putting it in different words.
换言之huàn yán zhī: Restates the same meaning briefly in different words, with a somewhat formal tone.
也就是yě jiù shì: Summarizes the previous point briefly and states its specific conclusion.
简而言之jiǎn ér yán zhī: Gives only the main conclusion by expressing the information in a short form.

Definition in Chinese

用于口语和书面语的连词，用来对前面的话作进一步解释或换一种表达，表示同一意思的重述或总结。yòng yú kóu yǔ hé shū miàn yǔ de lián cí yòng lái duì qián miàn de huà zuò jìn yí bù jiě shì huò huàn yì zhǒng biǎo dá biǎo shì tóng yí yì si de chóng shù huò zǒng jié

Word origin

也就是说 (yějiùshìshuō, "in other words") is built from 也 (yě, "also") + 就 (jiù, "just") + 是 (shì, "be") + 说 (shuō, "say"), giving the idea of saying the point again in another form.

Usage tips

  • Unlike a connector that moves the story forward, this expression tells listeners to compare the next clause with the previous one and look for the same meaning.

Other meanings

  • in shortconjunction
  • that isconjunction

Word lists with this word