打个比方，…
to give an analogy; to put it another way
Structure
打个比方（说） ， A 就像／好比／相当于 B
What it means
Announces an analogy: you paint a picture that makes a hard idea easier to grasp. It can also set up an imagined case to reason through.
How it is built
打个比方（说）+ comma + A 就像／好比／相当于 B: 打个比方，芯片好比电脑的大脑 (to put it another way, the chip is the computer’s brain).
When to use it
Talks, teaching and popular-science writing. 打个比方说 can also open a made-up case: 打个比方说，你每个月挣一万块…. In full it is 打一个比方.
Watch out
✗ 给个比方 ✓ 打个比方: the verb is 打; 给个比方 copies English ‘give an analogy’. 比如 and 例如 bring in real examples, not pictures, so they cannot replace 就像 in the second half.
Examples
打个比方，电网就像一本每一秒都要收支平衡的账。
To give an analogy, the grid is like an account book that must balance every second.
打个比方，芯片好比电脑的大脑，没有它什么都做不了。
To put it another way, the chip is the computer’s brain: without it nothing can be done.
打个比方说，你每个月挣一万块，房租就要花掉一半，你还剩多少？
Say, for example, you earn ten thousand a month and the rent takes half: how much do you have left?
Learn this in Lesson 177 · HSK 7–9: 一度电的旅程 (The journey of a kilowatt-hour)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
Open the lesson →