偏偏, 好在, 反倒 and 碰巧: Adverbs for Luck and Surprise

When to use 偏偏, 好在, 反倒 and 碰巧: Adverbs for Luck and Surprise

These adverbs go before the verb (or at the start of the clause) and show how the speaker feels about what happened. 碰巧 (spoken) and 恰巧 (more written) mean “by chance, it so happened”, for a neutral or happy coincidence. 偏偏 means “of all things, just when you didn’t want it”: the event goes against what someone hoped (偏偏下雨了), or a person stubbornly does the opposite of what others want (他偏偏要去). 好在 means “fortunately”: it adds one good fact that makes a bad situation easier. 竟 is the short written form of 竟然 “surprisingly”. 愣 (colloquial, often 愣是) means someone stubbornly does or refuses something no matter what. 反倒 means “instead, on the contrary”: the result is the opposite of what you would expect, often after 不但没….