Expressing good luck with "haihao"

还好 (háihǎo) mean "fortunately" or "luckily." It can be used to express that something has happened by chance, and has thereby enabled you to avoid some difficulty or bad luck. It is often followed with 不然 (which precedes the bad thing that could have happened).

Structure

还好 + [Lucky Incident] ，不然 ⋯⋯

Examples

• 还好 我们 打车 来 的 ，不然 就 迟到 了 。Háihǎo wǒmen dǎchē lái de, bùrán jiù chídào le.Luckily, we came by taxi, otherwise we could have been late.
• 还好 我 妈 没 看到 ，不然 她 肯定 要 生气 。Háihǎo wǒ mā méi kàndào, bùrán tā kěndìng yào shēngqì.It's a good thing that my mother didn't see it, otherwise she would definitely be mad.
• 还好 有 你 在 ，不然 我 真 不 知道 怎么办 。Háihǎo nǐ zài, bùrán wǒ zhēn bù zhīdào zěnme bàn.Fortunately you're here, otherwise I really don't know what to do.
• 还好 带 伞 了 ，不然 要 淋湿 了 。Háihǎo dài sǎn le,bùrán yào línshī le.It's a good thing I brought the umbrella. Otherwise, I would have gotten soaked.
• 还好 问题 解决 了 ，不然 老板 肯定 要 炒 你 的 鱿鱼 。Háihǎo wèntí jiějué le, bùrán lǎobǎn kěndìng yào chǎo nǐ de yóuyú.Luckily, the problem is solved now. Otherwise the boss is definitely going to fire you.
• 还好 我 没 听 他 的 话，不然 我 就 输 了 。Hái hǎo wǒ méi tīng tā de huà,bùrán wǒ jiù shū le.It's a good thing I didn't listen to him, otherwise I would have lost the game.
• 还好 我 保存 了，不然 文件 都 丢 了 。Háihǎo wǒ bǎocún le, bùrán wénjiàn dōu diū le.Luckily I saved it, otherwise I would have lost all of the documents.
• 还好 我 没 点 那么 多 菜 ，不然 都 浪费 了 。Háihǎo wǒ méi diǎn nàme duō cài, bùrán dōu làngfèi le.Luckily I didn't order that much food, otherwise it would be all wasted.
• 还好 老板 不 知道 ，不然 你 肯定 被 炒 鱿鱼 。Háihǎo lǎobǎn bù zhīdào, bùrán nǐ kěndìng bèi chǎo yóuyú.Luckily the boss doesn't know about it, otherwise you will definitely get fired.
• 还好 你 提醒 我 了 ，不然 我 肯定 忘 了。Háihǎo nǐ tíxǐng wǒ le, bùrán wǒ kěndìng wàng le.Luckily, you reminded me, otherwise I would have definitely forgotten.

See also

• Expressing "thanks to" with "duokui"

Sources and further reading

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp. 1527) →buy