Are You Ready for using 意外 and 案外?
When the results are different from what you thought, you would use 意外 and 案外. However, these are quite similar words to each other. I’d say some people struggle with how to use them. So in this article, let me clearly introduce how to use 意外 and 案外.
意外 (igai)
___than I thought / Surprise / Surprisingly
意外 originally refers to results that are very different from what you thought, and you are surprised by it. Natives basically use ほ〜 when they are surprised by something someone said that differs from their expectations. 意外 expresses a much greater degree of surprise for natives than 案外.
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Sample
おー!久しぶりじゃん!ここで会うなんて意外だねっ! (Oh!! What have you been up to? What a surprise to see you here!) (嗨 好久不见啊!没想到会在这里见面!) (와, 오랜만이야! 여기서 만나다니 신기하네!) (Ôi! Chẳng phải lâu lắm mới gặp anh sao? Không ngờ chúng ta lại gặp nhau ở đây nhỉ!)


えっ、マジ?料理できるとか超意外なんだけどっ! (What? For real? I’m so surprised that you’re good at cooking, huh?) (咦,真的吗?! 你会做料理真的让我很意外呢!) (와, 요리를 잘 한다니 정말 의외인데?) (Ớ! thật á! Tôi thật không ngờ cậu nấu ăn được đấy!)


ほ〜。2030年には日本人の1/3が高齢者なんて意外だったなー。 (Wow, it was surprising to me that one-third of Japanese are elderly people in 2030.) (哇~ 想不到2030年日本人 中有三分之一的人将是老年人啊。) (오… 2030년에는 일본인의 3분의 1이 고령자라니, 의외네..) (Ô hô! Đến năm 2030, 1/3 dân số Nhật Bản là người già thật là chuyện không ngờ nhỉ!)
案外 (angai)
___than I thought
案外 originally refers to results that are slightly different from what you thought, and you are not very surprised, or it is only mildly surprising. Natives basically use へ〜 when results are slightly different from what they expected.
Sample


先週の期末テストは案外難しくなかったよ!意外と満点だったりして? (The final exam last week wasn’t as difficult as I thought. It might be surprisingly a perfect score.) (上周的期末考试没想到一点也不难呢 竟然得了满分!) (지난 주의 기말 테스트는 생각보다 어렵지 않았어! 의외로 만점 받는 거 아냐?) (Bài kiểm tra cuối kỳ tuần trước đã khó hơn sơ với dự kiến đấy! Không ngờ tớ lại được điểm tuyệt đối!)


へ〜。2030年には日本人の1/3が高齢者かー。案外多いかな? (I see. One-third of Japanese are elderly people in 2030. That’s quite a lot more than I thought.) (欸 2030年日本人 三分之一会是老年人?真是出乎意料的多啊。) (음… 2030년에는 일본인의 3분의 1이 고령자라니… 생각보다 꽤 많네…) (Hơ, năm 2030, 1/3 dân số Nhật Bản là người già à! Thật là ngoài dự tính nhỉ!)
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Comments
List of comments (2)
Thank you! Using ほ~ and へ~ to show the difference made it very easy to understand, super intuitive. Haven’t seen this approach elsewhere.
I’ll keep your site bookmarked in case I’m confused about anything else in the future.
Hi Progeusz
Thank you for your great comment and for reading and bookmarking our site. We’re really happy to hear that. I hope that you would figure out the Japanese deeply with this site. We keep writing valuable posts for you guys studying Japanese!