<p>说话 means to speak/talk 
话说 generally means "(to) speak/talk about", for example：
1. 话说中国 (to talk about China)
2. 话说这个我不太明白 (speaking about this, I don't quite understand) </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-11T05:59:27.153Z
2019-11-11T05:59:27.153Z
sylvia
<p>说话 means 'talking', 话说 means 'by the way', ‘they say’. As an addition to @魏小淇's excellent answer. You can view 话说 as 'according to some' or 'they say', like </p>

<p>'according to some, seems like Mr. Wang was fired yesterday' ‘话说，王先生好像昨天被开除了’
although, it seems like 听说 can be used too in that context</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-11T03:43:31.597Z
2019-11-11T03:43:31.597Z
emkay
<p>You need to differentiate them as "话说" carries a different meaning. It is used when people want to start a topic. It is very commonly used in ancient novels, where authors always speak as a storyteller and use "话说" to begin the story. In informal conversations someone may also use it now (actually I used to say it many times), a little like "by the way" in English. </p>

<p>My personal opinion is that, practically you'd better avoid using "话说" in your writing when you are not a high level Mandarin writer, because I think "话说" is related to a specific writing style. You may use "话说" in informal conversations. </p>

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2019-11-10T18:08:19.763Z
2019-11-10T18:08:19.763Z
魏小淇
<p>I previously already understood "说话" to mean "to speak" or something to that effect, but just recently I saw the term "话说" and was curious if it carried the same meaning (which is often the case I've noticed). I checked my go to dictionary (<a href="https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E8%AF%B4%E8%AF%9D+%E8%AF%9D%E8%AF%B4+%E8%AF%B4+%E8%AF%9D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yabla</a>) and according to that the definitions are slightly different, with "说话" defined as "to speak/talk" and "话说" defined as "to discuss/recount". Is this how the two terms are actually used or is the dictionary teaching me wrong practices? Is it practical for me to even differentiate the two?</p>

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Difference between 说话 and 话说?
# Difference between 说话 and 话说?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-10)

I previously already understood "说话" to mean "to speak" or something to that effect, but just recently I saw the term "话说" and was curious if it carried the same meaning (which is often the case I've noticed). I checked my go to dictionary ([Yabla](https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E8%AF%B4%E8%AF%9D+%E8%AF%9D%E8%AF%B4+%E8%AF%B4+%E8%AF%9D)) and according to that the definitions are slightly different, with "说话" defined as "to speak/talk" and "话说" defined as "to discuss/recount". Is this how the two terms are actually used or is the dictionary teaching me wrong practices? Is it practical for me to even differentiate the two?

**Tags:** usage


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-11-10. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

You need to differentiate them as "话说" carries a different meaning. It is used when people want to start a topic. It is very commonly used in ancient novels, where authors always speak as a storyteller and use "话说" to begin the story. In informal conversations someone may also use it now (actually I used to say it many times), a little like "by the way" in English.

My personal opinion is that, practically you'd better avoid using "话说" in your writing when you are not a high level Mandarin writer, because I think "话说" is related to a specific writing style. You may use "话说" in informal conversations.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2019-11-11. Score: 1

说话 means to speak/talk
话说 generally means "(to) speak/talk about", for example：
1. 话说中国 (to talk about China)
2. 话说这个我不太明白 (speaking about this, I don't quite understand)


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### Answer by username_2 on 2019-11-11. Score: 1

说话 means 'talking', 话说 means 'by the way', ‘they say’. As an addition to @username_3's excellent answer. You can view 话说 as 'according to some' or 'they say', like

'according to some, seems like Mr. Wang was fired yesterday' ‘话说，王先生好像昨天被开除了’
although, it seems like 听说 can be used too in that context


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