盛情难却
shèng qíng nán què
such kindness is hard to refuse
Character by character
盛shèng
great
great
情qíng
kindness
kindness
难nán
hard
hard
却què
decline
decline
Example
老同学非要留我在他家住一晚，盛情难却，我只好答应了。
My old classmate insisted I stay the night; such kindness was hard to refuse, so I agreed.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
却 is “to decline”. The phrase explains why you finally said yes, so it usually comes before 只好 or 就; it lets you accept without seeming greedy.
Learn this in Lesson 36 · HSK 5–6: 去朋友家做客 (Visiting a Chinese home)
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 →