Believe it or not means surprising but true. It introduces a real but unexpected fact: Believe it or not, the old radio still works. Nobody is invited to doubt it; the speaker expects surprise. The phrase goes at the start or at the end: We finished before lunch, believe it or not.
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Believe it or not, + surprising fact / statement + , believe it or not
- Believe it or not, the old radio still works.
- We finished before lunch, believe it or not.
- Believe it or not, both neighbours chose the same unusual colour.
What changed
First versionBelieve or not, the tiny library has a recording studio.
RevisionBelieve it or not, the tiny library has a recording studio.
The phrase seems to be about believing in general, so it gets lost: believe or not. But here believe needs an object: believe it or not. With it back, the phrase is whole.
Believe me means 'trust me': the speaker asks you to trust them, and the fact itself may be quite ordinary. Believe it or not is about the fact: it's surprising, but true.
Your turn
Complete the phrase introducing a surprising fact: Believe ___ or not, the repair took only five minutes.
Show the answer
it — The fixed formula is believe it or not, with it. Without it the phrase sounds cut off.
Share a surprising fact about your life in one sentence with believe it or not.
Believe it or not, I've never seen the sea.
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