Expressing good luck with "haihao"
幸亏 (xìngkuī), 幸好 (xìnghǎo), and 还好 (háihǎo) mean "fortunately" or "luckily." They 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).
Contents
Expressing Luck with 幸亏 and 幸好
It's as simple is adding 幸亏 or 幸好 before the thing that makes you feel lucky.
Structure
The pattern is:
幸亏 / 幸好 + [Lucky Incident]
And if you want to add in 不然 for an "otherwise... (this really bad thing would have happened)" explanation, use this structure:
幸亏 / 幸好 + [Lucky Incident]， 不然 ……
Examples
- 幸亏 我们 走 得 早，不然 就 迟到 了。Luckily, we left early, otherwise we could have been late.
- 幸好 我 妈 没 看到，不然 她 肯定 要 生气。It's a good thing that my mother didn't see it, otherwise she would definitely be mad.
- 幸亏 你 在，不然 我 不 知道 该 找 谁。Fortunately you're here, otherwise I don't know who I could turn to.
- 幸好 他们 都 走 了，不然 我 要 疯 了。Luckily, they all left, otherwise I could be driven crazy.
- 幸好 今天 带 伞 了，不然 要 淋湿 了。It's a good thing I brought the umbrella. Otherwise, I would have gotten soaked.
Expressing Luck with 还好
“还好” can also mean “fortunately,” but is more colloquial than 幸好 or 幸亏.
Structure
还好 + [Lucky Incident]
And if you want to "不然 it up" with an "otherwise..." explanation, use this structure:
还好 + [Lucky Incident]， 不然……
Examples
- 还好 我 没 听 他的，不然 我 就 倒霉 了。It's a good thing I didn't listen to him. Otherwise I would have been in for it.
- 还好 我 保存 了，不然 文件 都 丢 了。Luckily I saved it, otherwise I would have lost all of the documents.
See also
Sources and further reading
Books
Dictionaries
- 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp. 1527) →buy
