native

How do I say ‘I’m confused’?

Conversational and natural when the logic or situation does not make sense to you.

我有点搞不懂

wǒ yǒudiǎn gǎo bu dǒng

I’m a bit confused / I can’t make sense of it.

LITERAL

I can’t quite figure it out.

WHAT IT REALLY MEANS

I’m a bit confused / I can’t make sense of it.

WHEN IT FITS

Confusing explanationsPuzzling behaviorInformal questions

Use a result complement such as 懂 or 明白 to say exactly what kind of understanding failed.

Chinese prefers to name the channel of failed understanding rather than label the emotion. Use 听不懂 when you didn’t catch the words, 看不懂 when the written text doesn’t parse, 想不通 when the logic defies belief, and 搞不懂 when a situation as a whole doesn’t add up. 我很困惑 is grammatical but belongs in essays, not conversation.

HOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY SAY IT

这个规则我有点搞不懂。

Zhège guīzé wǒ yǒudiǎn gǎo bu dǒng.

I’m a bit confused by this rule.

Confusing rule

我搞不懂他为什么突然生气。

Wǒ gǎo bu dǒng tā wèishénme tūrán shēngqì.

I can’t understand why he suddenly got angry.

Puzzling behavior

CHOOSE BY SITUATION

我没听明白

wǒ méi tīng míngbai

I didn’t understand what I heard.

The issue is a spoken explanation rather than the logic itself