其實grammar point · tier 1 · 其實 — actually, in fact (what is really the case)
· qíshí
adv — sets aside the impression just raised and states what is really the case.
字源 FORM what the parts do
其 is a winnowing basket borrowed for its sound, qí — it carries no meaning here. 實 is a roof (宀) over strings of cowries (貫), a house filled solid; its sense is real, actual. The pair points past the surface to what is solid underneath.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A coat of paint on a wall, and a hand scrapes a patch off to show the stone behind.
字源自撰記憶法
框 · Frame
[surface impression] ， 其實 [the real case].
觸 · Trigger
An impression has been put on the table and you correct it to the truth underneath.
序 · The move
1Voice the surface impression first — what it looks like, or what was assumed.Is there something for 其實 to push against? With no prior impression it has nothing to correct.
2Open the second clause with 其實, then state the real case.其實 sits before the comment, after any subject — adverb position, not sentence-final.
3Make the real case actually differ from the impression.If both sides agree, 其實 is empty; it earns its place by overturning.
例 · Examples
1一個禮拜one week運動exercise兩次twice，其實actually / in fact不難not hard。
Working out twice a week — it's actually not hard.
可是/但是 mark plain contrast between two clauses. 其實 specifically corrects an impression to fact — it carries the claim 'this is what is really so'.
✗ 不難其實。 → ✓ 其實不難。 (其實 leads the clause it corrects, it is not sentence-final.)
✗ 其實，一個禮拜運動兩次。(no impression to overturn) → ✓ 一個禮拜運動兩次，其實不難。
✗ 我其實是學生。(as a flat statement of fact) → ✓ 你以為我在工作？其實我是學生。(corrects an assumption)
English 'actually' often softens or opens a turn with no correction behind it ('Actually, let me start over'). 其實 needs a real impression to overturn; using it as a discourse filler reads as contradicting something that was never said.