说到底【shuōdàodǐ】

说到底 – "said all the way to the bottom" – cuts past the details to what something comes down to. It opens the sentence or follows a topic, and is often followed by 还是, 就是 or 不过是. It's at home in speech and in plain written commentary; 归根结底 is the more formal version.

With 不过是

说到底 + 不过是 cuts something down to its plain size: "it's nothing more than".

说到底 or 到底

到底 on its own in a question means "on earth" and presses for an answer. 说到底 doesn't ask anything; it states a conclusion.

• × 说到底你去不去？ → 你到底去不去？