怪不得 (guàibude) can be used to express that the speaker finds something unsurprising. It can be used alone or in a variety of different structures, as shown below. 难怪 (nánguài) is another way to express the exact same thing. Emphasis on 怪不得 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ### Structure 怪不得 is used to convey the speaker's newfound understanding of a situation, having recently acquired some new information that, in his opinion, explains it. It can be replaced with 难怪 in the structure without altering its meaning. ### Examples Emphasis on 原来 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Structure ### Examples The Other Meaning of 难怪 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This usage is definitely less common, but sometimes 难怪 is a combination of the [难 + Verb](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Difficult_to_do_something) pattern and the verb 怪, meaning "to blame." In this case, the meaning is totally different. Although it's not as common, and you shouldn't need to worry about it too much, we include it here because if you ever run into and think that 难怪 can only ever have one meaning, it can totally throw you for a loop. A few examples: When used in this way it expresses that the speaker assigns no blame in the situation he is describing. Sometimes the specific person undeserving of blame is mentioned directly after 难怪, as in the first two examples. Often, however, the context makes clear who this person is, and this is not necessary, as in the third example. See also ------------------------------------------------------- - ["All along" with "yuanlai"](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/%22All_along%22_with_%22yuanlai%22) Sources and further reading --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Books - [现代汉语八百词（增订本）](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/%E7%8E%B0%E4%BB%A3%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E5%85%AB%E7%99%BE%E8%AF%8D%EF%BC%88%E5%A2%9E%E8%AE%A2%E6%9C%AC%EF%BC%89) (pp. 239, 408) \[ →buy\] - [Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Integrated_Chinese:_Level_2,_Part_1) (pp. 199) [→buy](http://amzn.to/2fdV2l3) ### Dictionaries - [现代汉语词典（第5版）](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/%E7%8E%B0%E4%BB%A3%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E8%AF%8D%E5%85%B8%EF%BC%88%E7%AC%AC5%E7%89%88%EF%BC%89) (pp. 499, 981) [→buy](http://www.amazon.cn/%E7%8E%B0%E4%BB%A3%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E8%AF%8D%E5%85%B8/dp/B001B1RZCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345693609&sr=8-1) \