結果grammar point · tier 1 · outcome 結果 (as it turned out; in the end)
Heads the clause reporting what a run of events finally came to, often a turn against what was set up.
字源 FORM what the parts do
結 is a thread (糸) pulled into a knot, the tie-off that finishes; 吉 jí lends the sound, the final opening to jié. 果 is a round fruit drawn atop a tree (木), what a whole season comes to. The knot tied at the end and the fruit it bore: the outcome a stretch of events lands on.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A tangle of threads runs the length of the table; at the far end they pull into one knot, and on it hangs a single fruit.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[run of events]，結果 [the outcome it lands on]
觸 · Trigger
A sequence has played out and you report the one thing it actually came to, often not the thing it pointed at.
序 · The move
1Lay out the run of events as the first clause — the tries, the setup, the expectation.Has the action already happened, with an end-state to report?
2Head the second clause with 結果.Does 結果 sit at the front of the outcome clause, before its subject?
3State the outcome the run came to.Read it backwards — does the run still come first and the outcome last? If the outcome seems to cause the run, 結果 is wrong; reach for 因為…所以….
例 · Examples
1他去很多家公司面試to interview (for a job)，結果as it turned out; in the end只有一家公司通知to notify; call in他去上班。
He interviewed at many companies, and in the end only one of them called him in to work.
所以 draws a reasoned line: the cause entails the effect, so the result is the one that makes sense. 結果 reports what actually happened at the end of the run, with no claim of necessity, and often the opposite of what was set up.
終於 greets a long-awaited arrival that finally comes through. 結果 is neutral on welcome — it states the end-state plainly and frequently flags a turn the speaker did not want.
因為他很努力，結果他成功了 ✗ → 他很努力，結果失敗了 ✓ (結果 fits the unforeseen turn; for a reasoned cause→effect use 因為…所以…)
我吃了飯結果看電視 ✗ → 我吃了飯，然後看電視 ✓ (a mere next step takes 然後; 結果 needs an outcome the run lands on)
結果他去很多家公司面試 ✗ → 他去很多家公司面試，結果… ✓ (the run of events comes first; 結果 heads the outcome clause, not the setup)
English in the end and as a result float and can open either half; 結果 anchors at the front of the outcome clause only, and leans toward an outcome that turned against the setup rather than a plain summary.