Moderating positive adjectives with "hai"

Whenever you want to imply that something is "good," but also kind of "meh," you can use 还 (hái) in front of the "good" adjective.

Commonly used expressions

Structure

Besides expressing continuation, 还 (hái) can also be used to weaken positive adjectives. This is similar to saying "fairly [good]" or "reasonably [good]" in English. Below are some of the most common adjectives that get "toned down" by 还 (hái) in this structure.

Subj. + 还 + 好 / 可以 / 行 / 不错

These can all be taken to mean "pretty good" or "all right" or "decent" (but also kind of meh... not great). As in English, intonation and facial expressions help convey the meaning. If expectations were low, 还可以 (hái kěyǐ) can have the sense of "pretty darn good"; note the two contrasting examples below of the same sentence.

Examples

• 我 还 好。 Wǒ hái hǎo. I'm OK.
• 爸爸 做的菜 还 好。 Bàba zuò de cài hái hǎ. The food dad cooks is OK.
• 我们 老板 还 不错。 Wǒmen lǎobǎn hái bùcuò. Our boss is not too bad.
• 这 个 牌子 还 不错，很多 年轻人 喜欢。 Zhè ge páizi hái bùcuò， hěnduō niánqīngrén xǐhuan. This brand is not bad.Many young people like it.
• 我的 新家 还 不错，离 公司 很近。 Wǒ de xīnjiā hái bùcuò, lí gōngsī hěnjìn. My new house is not bad.It‘s close to the company
• 我 觉得 这里 的 菜 还 可以 ， 没有 那么 难吃。 Wǒ juéde zhèlǐ de cài hái kěyǐ, méiyǒu nàme nánchī. I think the food here is OK, it is not too bad-tasting.
• 这 家 店 还 行，不 太 贵。 Zhè jià diàn hái xíng, bù tài guì. The shop is OK.Not too expensive.
• 房子 还 可以 ，但是 有 点 贵。 Fángzi hái kěyǐ, dànshì yǒu diǎn guì. The apartment is not too bad, but it is a bit expensive.
• 这 个 人 身高 还 行，可是 有点 胖。 Zhège rén shēngāo hái xíng, kěshì yǒudiǎn pàng. The guy's height is OK, but he's a little fat.
• 我 男朋友 的 月收入 差不多 一万，在 上海 还 可以。 Wǒ nánpéngyou de yuè shōurù chàbùduō yīwàn, zài Shànghǎi hái kěyǐ. My boyfriend's monthly pay is about ten thousand RMB.It's OK in Shanghai.

See also

• Continuation with "hai"
• Expressing "rather" with "bijiao"
• The "zui" superlative

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 302) →buy
• Exemplification of Common Sentence Patterns in Spoken Chinese 汉语口语常用句式例解 (pp. 106-7) →buy
• Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (pp. 366) →buy