Adv.unexpectedly; to one's surprise

Animated Stroke Order

Stroke order SVGs for the characters in 居然.
居 stroke order svg
然 stroke order svg

Practice writing 居然 (jū rán) with our free printable handwriting worksheet

Character Breakdown

居然 consists of 2 characters.

How to Use 居然 in Sentences

Common collocations & usage patterns. Learn how to combine 居然 with other words naturally.
Adverb + Verb + Objectwith
rán
shì
zhè
yàng
neutral
it's actually like this
Subject + Adverb + Verbwith知道
rán
zhī
dào
neutral
he actually knows
Adverb + Verbwith
rán
lái
liǎo
neutral
actually came
Adverb + Verb + Complementwith成功
rán
chéng
gōng
liǎo
neutral
actually succeeded

Example Sentences with 居然

rán
lái
le
He actually came.
rán
zài
zhòng
yào
de
huì
shàng
chí
dào
le
zhěng
zhěng
bàn
xiǎo
shí
He was unexpectedly thirty minutes late for such an important meeting.
rán
méi
tīng
shuō
guò
zhè
wèi
xiǎng
quán
qiú
de
shù
jiā
ma
You mean you haven't even heard of this world-renowned artist?
zhè
me
jiǎn
dān
de
rán
zuò
cuò
le
He actually got such an easy question wrong.
rán
méi
yǒu
duì
xiàn
dāng
chū
xià
de
rèn
chéng
nuò
He unexpectedly failed to fulfill any of the promises he made initially.
zhè
ge
kàn
jiǎn
dān
de
huà
rán
yào
de
xié
tiáo
gōng
zuò
This seemingly simple plan unexpectedly requires such complex coordination.
tiān
bào
shuō
jīn
tiān
huì
xià
rán
zhēn
de
xià
le
The weather forecast said it would rain today, and it actually did.
zuó
tiān
suí
kǒu
de
cān
tīng
rán
jīn
tiān
jiù
dìng
le
wèi
zhì
To my surprise, he made a reservation today at the restaurant I just casually mentioned yesterday.