HSK 4 grammar · adverb
原来
原来 — so it turns out / originally
Pattern
+
a sudden realization
+
formerly
( ) can be left out · other words may come before, between and after
How it works
Has two senses. As a discovery marker it means 'so that's why / it turns out', signaling the speaker just realized the real reason. As a time word it means 'originally / formerly', describing a previous state that has since changed.
Examples
原来你是他妹妹，怪不得长得像。
Yuánlái nǐ shì tā mèimei, guàibude zhǎng de xiàng.
So you're his sister — no wonder you look alike.
他原来住在北京，现在搬到上海了。
Tā yuánlái zhù zài Běijīng, xiànzài bān dào Shànghǎi le.
He originally lived in Beijing; now he's moved to Shanghai.
Related
See it in a story
In the app, 原来 is underlined wherever it appears in the stories you read, and practised with sentences from them. Free.