具体来说 / 具体地说 / 具体而言【jùtǐ lái shuō / jùtǐ de shuō / jùtǐ ér yán】

具体来说 introduces the details behind a general statement: what exactly, how many, which ones. It comes after the general point and opens the next sentence, followed by a comma.

具体地说 means the same. 具体而言 is the written form, at home in reports and essays; 具体来讲 is a spoken variant.

The 来说 family

The same frame gives a set of openers that position what comes next: 一般来说 "generally", 总的来说 "overall", 简单来说 "in short". 具体来说 is the one that zooms in.

Mistakes

The general statement comes first. 具体来说 opening a text, or leading into something vaguer, reads backwards.

• × 具体来说，这个计划有问题。时间不够，人也不够。 → 这个计划有问题。具体来说，时间不够，人也不够。

The frame takes no 的.

• × 具体的来说 → 具体来说 / 具体地说