Using "hao" to mean "easy"
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Level
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Similar to
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Used for
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Keywords
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.
Contents
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。 The meaning of this word is easy to understand.
- 这 个 汉字 很 好写。 This Chinese character is easy to write.
- 三明治 很 好做。 Sandwiches are easy to make.
- 苹果 手机 现在 很 好买。 iPhones are easy to buy now.
- 这 个 笔 很 好用。 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 good to taste, good to eat, delicious
- 好喝 good to taste, good to drink
- 好看 good to look at, good-looking, attractive
- 好听 good to listen to, pleasant to listen to, good-sounding
- 好闻 good 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 fun
Examples
- 这 首 歌 很 好听 。 This song is great.
- 这 种 茶 很 好闻 。 This kind of tea smells good.
- 你 的 新 包 很 好看 。 Your new bag looks good.
- 妈妈 做 的 菜 很 好吃 。 The food mom makes is delicious.
- 我 觉得 上海 很 好玩 。 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
