Using "hao" to mean "easy"

Of course 好 (hǎo) means "good." But it can also be used to express that something is "easy to do" or "good to do." And it is quite... easy to do! All you need to do is place a 好 (hǎo) before a verb.

General Verbs

Just as 难 (nán) can be used to indicate that it's hard to do something, 好 (hǎo) can also come before verbs to indicate that something is easy to do.

Structure

The simple form is just:

好 + Verb

If you want to make a sentence out of it:

Subj. + (很) 好 + Verb

Examples

• 这 个 词 的 意思 很 好懂。Zhège cí de yìsi hěn hǎo dǒng. The meaning of this word is easy to understand.
• 这 个 汉字 很 好写。Zhège Hànzì hěn hǎo xiě. This Chinese character is easy to write.
• 三明治 很 好做。Sānmíngzhì hěn hǎo zuò. Sandwiches are easy to make.
• 苹果 手机 现在 很 好买。 Píngguǒ shǒujī xiànzài hěn hǎo mǎi. iPhones are easy to buy now.
• 这 个 笔 很 好用。Zhège bǐ hěn hǎo yòng. This pen is easy to use.

Exceptions

好 (hǎo) can also be attached to "sense verbs" (e.g. "look," "taste," "smell," etc.) to indicate that something is good to do (rather than "easy to do").

There's a limited number of these, but some of them are super common, so just memorize them as exceptions:

• 好吃 hǎochī good to taste, good to eat, delicious
• 好喝 hǎohē good to taste, good to drink
• 好看 hǎokàn good to look at, good-looking, attractive
• 好听 hǎotīnggood to listen to, pleasant to listen to, good-sounding
• 好闻 hǎowéngood to smell, smells good, good-smelling

The word for "fun" in Chinese is also of this form, even though it's not a sense verb:

• 好玩 hǎowánfun

Examples

• 这 首 歌 很 好听 。 Zhè shǒu gē hěn hǎotīng. This song is great.
• 这 种 茶 很 好闻 。Zhè zhǒng chá hěn hǎowén. This kind of tea smells good.
• 你 的 新 包 很 好看 。Nǐ de xīn bāo hěn hǎokàn. Your new bag looks good.
• 妈妈 做 的 菜 很 好吃 。Māma zuò de cài hěn hǎochī. The food mom makes is delicious.
• 我 觉得 上海 很 好玩 。 Wǒ juéde Shànghǎi hěn hǎowán. I think Shanghai is a lot of fun.

See also

• Expressing "difficult" with "nan"
• Expressing Difficulty with "hao (bu) rongyi"
• Expressing purpose with "haorang" (advanced article)

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (p. 232) →buy
• 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 (p. 52) →buy