Kilo Lingo

(xiǎng lái) - presumably, it may be assumed in Mandarin

xiǎnglái

Traditional: 想來

#2662 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

presumably, it may be assumed

Word origin

A fixed pattern built from 想 (xiǎng, to think) and 来 (lái, come), where 来 marks the thinking as having been worked through rather than any physical coming.

Origin
compound
Root
想 (xiǎng, to think) + 来 (lái, direction marker)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 想

Stroke order for 来

Examples

Presumably he already knows.

It is so late that presumably he will not come.

On reflection this matter is not that hard.

She must have been very frightened at the time.

I assume you have heard about it as well.

想来 (xiǎng lái) means that having thought it over, one supposes. It marks an inference the speaker is fairly confident about but has not checked. 想来他已经知道了 is closer to he must know by now than to maybe he knows.

It opens the clause, before the subject or just after it, and it modifies the whole statement rather than any one word. The register is a shade literary, so it turns up more in writing and in careful speech than in a chat at a bus stop, where 大概 or 应该 would do the same job.

The trap is that 想 and 来 also form an ordinary verb phrase. 我想来 is I want to come, and there is nothing inferential about it. Position sorts them out: with a subject in front and no further clause, it is want to come; standing at the head of a full statement, it is presumably. 我想来看你 is I want to come and see you, while 想来你会同意 is I take it you will agree.

Where this fits

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Mandarin · Free printables

想来: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 54.