反而
fǎn'ér
on the contrary; instead; rather
adverb
Example
我以为他会生气，没想到他反而很高兴。
Wǒ yǐwéi tā huì shēngqì, méi xiǎngdào tā fǎn'ér hěn gāoxìng.
I thought he would be angry, but unexpectedly he was very happy instead.
This useful adverb indicates that the actual result is opposite to what was expected. It's commonly used to express contrast and surprise in intermediate-level conversations.