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

Subj. + 还 可以

Subj. + 还 行

Subj. + 还 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 (háikěyǐ) 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.
• 我们 老板 还 不错。 Wǒmen lǎobǎn hái bùcuò. Our boss is not too bad.
• 我 觉得 这里 的 菜 还 可以 ， 没有 那么 难吃。 Wǒ juéde zhèlǐ de cài hái hǎo, méiyǒu nàme nánchī. I think the food here is OK, it is not too bad-tasting.
• 这件 衣服 还 行，不 太 贵。 Zhè jàin yīfu hái xíng, bù tài guì. The piece of clothes is OK.Not too expensive.
• 房子 还 不错 ，但是 有 点 贵。 Fángzi hái bùcuò, dànshì yǒu diǎn guì. The apartment is not too bad, but it is a bit expensive.

“还算” Used with an Adjective

Besides these commonly used fixed expressions, the phrase "还算" (hái suàn) can also be used together with an adjective. (算 suàn's basic meaning is to "calculate," but here it means "to consider to be.") This structure can be used to weaken a positive adjective in the same way the just 还 (hái) does above, but adding "算" (suàn) between “还” (hái) and the adjective adds a syllable and makes the expression sound more balanced and authentic.

Structure

Subj. + 还 算 + Adj.

Examples

• 我 家 的 宝宝 还 算 听话。Wǒjiā de bǎobǎo hái suàn tīnghuà.My baby fairly does what it's told.
• 这 个 城市 的 还 算 干净。Zhè ge chéngshì de hái suàn gānjìng.This city is fairly clean.
• 这 里 还 算 安静。Zhèlǐ hái suàn ānjìng.This place is fairly quiet.
• 这 家 店 的 东西 还 算 便宜。Zhè jiā diàn de dōngxī hái suàn piányí.The things in this shop are fairly cheap.
• 这 个 人 还 算 诚实。Zhè ge rén hái suàn chéngshí.This person is fairly honest.

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