像话 (xiàng huà) — to be proper, to be reasonable (used in negative or rhetorical questions)
Definition
像话 is almost always used in the negative or in a rhetorical question to scold 'how could that be proper / reasonable?' — it expresses outrage, not a neutral judgment.
verb
to be properto be reasonable (used in negative or rhetorical questions)
Examples
- ！Nǐ zhè yàng zuò tài bú xiàng huà le!It's really outrageous for you to do this!
- ？像话？Tā zěn me néng shuō chū zhè zhǒng huà lái? zhè xiàng huà ma?How could he say something like that? Is that proper?
- ，。Hái zi men zài tú shū guǎn lǐ dà shēng shuō huà, zhēn bú xiàng huà.The children are talking loudly in the library — it's really not proper.
Appears in
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