Breakdown of tā jīntiān kànqǐlái yǒudiǎnr shēngqì, shuōhuà yě yǒudiǎnr qíguài.
Questions & Answers about tā jīntiān kànqǐlái yǒudiǎnr shēngqì, shuōhuà yě yǒudiǎnr qíguài.
看 (kàn) by itself mainly means to look / to see.
看起来 is more like “it seems / it appears (from looking)”. It indicates a subjective impression based on appearance.
- 他看起来有点儿生气。
= From the way he looks, he seems a bit angry.
If you just said 他看有点儿生气, it would be wrong; you need the whole phrase 看起来 (or other similar patterns) to express this “seems” meaning.
In this kind of sentence, yes, 看起来 and 看上去 are usually interchangeable. Both mean something like “seems / appears (from looking)”:
- 他今天看起来有点儿生气。
- 他今天看上去有点儿生气。
Both are natural and very common.
Very roughly:
- 看起来 is slightly more neutral and general.
- 看上去 can sometimes feel a bit more visual / from first glance, but the difference is small in everyday speech.
Both involve “a little,” but:
有点儿 + adjective often means “a bit too / somewhat (unpleasantly)”, and is often used with negative or undesired states.
- 有点儿生气 = a bit angry / somewhat angry (slightly complaining/negative feel).
一点儿 + noun / something measurable is more literal, “a little (amount of)” and is more neutral:
- 一点儿水 = a little water
- 放心一点儿 = be a bit more relaxed
Comparing:
他有点儿生气。
= He’s a bit angry (and that’s not so good).给我一点儿时间。
= Give me a little time.
So in this sentence, 有点儿生气 is natural because anger is usually an unwanted state.
Not strictly “always,” but it tends to be used with negative or not-so-good situations:
- 有点儿贵 (a bit expensive)
- 有点儿累 (a bit tired)
- 有点儿烦 (a bit annoyed)
Using 有点儿 with clearly positive adjectives is possible but often sounds ironic, joking, or very casual:
- 有点儿开心 might sound like “kind of happy, but maybe shouldn’t be” or “unexpectedly happy.”
In formal or neutral, positive contexts, you more often see:
- 有一点儿 + adjective
- 有点 + adjective (without 儿)
- or other adverbs like 挺, 很, 非常, etc.
In Mandarin, degree adverbs (words like 很, 非常, 有点儿) generally go before adjectives:
- 很生气 = very angry
- 非常奇怪 = extremely strange
- 有点儿生气 = a bit angry
You cannot put it after the adjective in this structure.
So:
- ✅ 有点儿生气
- ❌ 生气有点儿 (only works in some special contrastive structures, not here).
The “need 很” rule mainly applies when the adjective is used alone as the main predicate:
- 他很生气。 (natural)
- 他生气。 (can sound like “he gets angry” as an action, or need context)
But here we already have a degree word: 有点儿.
Once you add a degree adverb (很, 非常, 有点儿, 太, 比较, etc.), you don’t need 很 anymore:
- 他有点儿生气。
- 他非常生气。
The function of “linking” the subject and the adjective is being done by 有点儿 (or other degree adverbs), so 很 is not required.
Time words like 今天, 现在, 明天 usually go early in the sentence, often right after the subject:
- 他今天看起来有点儿生气。
You can say:
- 他看起来今天有点儿生气。
It’s not wrong, but it sounds less natural in this simple sentence and may suggest a slight contrast with other times (e.g., “he seems angry today (but not usually)”).
Default, neutral word order:
[Subject] + [Time] + [Verb Phrase]
他 今天 看起来 有点儿生气。
In Chinese, when the subject stays the same in consecutive clauses, it is very common to omit it in later clauses if the meaning is clear.
First clause: 他今天看起来有点儿生气 → subject = 他.
Second clause: 说话也有点儿奇怪 → it is still talking about his way of speaking.
If you include it, it would be:
- 他说话也有点儿奇怪。
That’s also correct and clear. The version without 他 just sounds more compact and conversational, since the subject is obvious from context.
也 means “also / too / as well”.
说话有点儿奇怪。
= His way of speaking is a bit strange.说话也有点儿奇怪。
= His way of speaking is also a bit strange (in addition to him looking a bit angry).
So 也 connects the two descriptions and emphasizes that both things are true:
- He looks a bit angry.
- His way of speaking is also a bit strange.
说话 is a verb-object compound meaning “to speak / to talk” in general.
In this sentence, 说话 is acting more like “(the way he) speaks / his speaking”:
- 说话也有点儿奇怪。
= His speaking / the way he talks is also a bit strange.
You could say:
- 他说话也有点儿奇怪。 (very natural)
- 他说得也有点儿奇怪。 (focuses on how he talks, using 得 as a complement marker)
Using just 他说也有点儿奇怪 is less natural because 说 usually needs an object (say what?), while 说话 doesn’t: it already means “speak” intransitively.
The 儿 is the “er-hua” (儿化) sound, common in northern Mandarin (especially Beijing).
- 有点儿 (yǒudiǎnr) – more northern / Beijing style
- 有点 (yǒudiǎn) – more common overall, especially in southern speech
In modern Mandarin, both forms are widely understood, and in most contexts they are equivalent in meaning.
So:
- 他今天看起来有点儿生气。
- 他今天看起来有点生气。
Both are fine. The choice mostly reflects regional accent or personal habit.
生气 can be both:
Verb-like: “to get angry / to become angry”
- 别生气。 = Don’t get angry.
Adjective-like: “angry” (state)
- 他很生气。 = He is very angry.
In 他今天看起来有点儿生气, it functions more like an adjective describing his state:
- He seems a bit angry (in his current state).
The presence of 有点儿 (a degree adverb) makes it more clearly adjectival here.
奇怪 basically means “strange / odd / unusual”, and the tone depends on context:
- Here, 说话也有点儿奇怪 suggests his way of speaking is a bit unusual or off, and likely not in a good way, but it’s fairly mild.
- If you want stronger negative meanings like “crazy / weird in a bad way,” you might add context or stronger words, e.g. 很奇怪, 怪怪的, 有点儿不正常, 很怪异, etc.
So, in this sentence, 奇怪 is a soft, mild “strange”, not extremely insulting.