偏偏
of all things, as luck would have it; wilfully, insisting on the opposite
Structure
（主语）偏偏 动词／小句
What it means
Two uses: things turn out the opposite of what you want ('as luck would have it'), or someone deliberately does the opposite of what is asked.
How it is built
(Subject) + 偏偏 + verb or clause: 我刚洗完车，偏偏就下起雨来了 (I had just washed the car, and of course it started to rain); 他偏偏不听 (he simply would not listen).
When to use it
'As luck would have it': with an unwelcome event, often with a sigh. 'Wilfully': as 偏偏要… or 偏偏不…. 偏 alone is the same, a little more stubborn and colloquial: 你不让我去，我偏去.
Watch out
Unlike 竟然, which only marks surprise, 偏偏 always goes against someone's wishes. It goes before the verb or clause, never after the verb: ✗他不听偏偏。 ✓他偏偏不听。
Examples
我刚洗完车，偏偏就下起雨来了。
I had only just washed the car, and of course it started to rain.
大家都劝他台风天别出海，他偏偏不听。
Everyone told him not to go to sea with a typhoon coming, but he simply would not listen.
平时公交车很多，今天我赶时间，偏偏一辆都不来。
Normally there are buses all the time; today, when I am in a hurry, not a single one comes.
Learn this in Lesson 15 · HSK 5: 梅雨、回南天与台风 (Plum rains, “returning south” days and typhoons)
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.
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