這麼說grammar point · tier 1 · discourse 這麼說 (so / in that case / put that way)
Discourse connective: re-voice what the other speaker just said as your footing, then draw the next move from it — so, in that case, if you put it that way.
字源 FORM what the parts do
這 points near (辶, a foot on the road; 言 lends only an old sound, the pointing word in a borrowed traveling coat). 麼 is a worn sound-tail, on loan here for its light me, spelling nothing. 說 carries the one live meaning: words (言) that lay a thing open. Together they read 'putting it this way' — the near finger turned not at a thing in the room but back at what was just said.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
The near finger lands on the words just spoken, and the mouth re-lays them; from that re-said footing the next step falls out.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[A's statement] 。 B：這麼說，[the move that follows from re-putting A's words]
觸 · Trigger
The other person just said something; re-state it as your premise and draw what follows.
序 · The move
1Anchor 這麼說 to the statement the other speaker just put on the table.Is there a prior utterance to re-voice? If the premise is still hypothetical and unsaid, this is 如果, not 這麼說.
2After 這麼說, open the new clause with the consequence that follows from re-putting it, often with 我得 / 就.Does the clause step to a new conclusion, not merely echo A's words back?
3Read it back as re-say-then-conclude.這麼說 fixes the prior words as footing; the clause goes somewhere new. If the new clause only repeats A, the move is empty.
例 · Examples
1A：他通常usually會在三點左右around, approximately離開。B：這麼說so, put that way — taking A's words as re-said footing，我得must, have to (děi)三點以前before (a time point)去找他。
A: He usually leaves around three. B: So in that case, I have to go find him before three.
Whether the prior words are re-voiced. 這麼說 carries 說 — it re-states the other's utterance as your premise ('putting it that way') before drawing the move. Bare 那 just points back and steps off, with no re-saying. Need to recast what was said -> 這麼說; clean step-off -> 那.
What the footing is. 這麼說 takes a thing already said and re-puts it as given; 如果 sets a condition that has not happened. Already-uttered, re-voiced -> 這麼說; still hypothetical -> 如果.
connective 這麼說 vs manner 這麼+說
Whether it points at a way of speaking. The connective sits clause-initial and re-frames the prior turn (so, in that case). Literal 這麼說 ('say it this way / speak like this') points at a manner of speaking inside the sentence: 你別這麼說 = don't talk like that.
✗ 如果，我得三點以前去找他。 → ✓ 這麼說，我得三點以前去找他。 (A already said it; the premise is not hypothetical)
✗ 你別那麼說。(meaning 'so, in that case') → ✓ 這麼說，那我先走了。 (那麼說/別這麼說 here is manner of speaking; the connective opens the clause and re-frames the turn)
English 'so' and 'in that case' fuse re-stating a premise with mere time-sequence ('so we left'). Learners reach for 這麼說 where the sentence only chains events in time, where Chinese uses 然後 / 所以 instead.