Using "hao" to mean "easy"
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Using 好 (hǎo) to express that something is "easy to do" or "good to do" 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 be attached to verbs, except sensitive words, to indicate that something is easy to do. The structure is, simply:
Structure
The simple form is just:
好 + Verb
If you want to make a sentence out of it:
Subj. + (很) 好 + Verb
Examples
- 好懂 Easy to understand
- 这 个 词 的 意思 很 好懂 。 The meaning of this word is easy to understand.
- 好写 Easy to write
- 这 个 汉字 很 好写 。 This Chinese character is easy to write.
- 好做 Easy to do, easy to make
- 三明治 很 好做 。 Sandwiches are easy to make.
- 好买 Easy to buy (implying it's easy to find and buy).
- 这 个 东西 现在 很 好买 。 This thing is easy to buy.
- 好用 Easy to use.
- 这 个 手机 很 好用 。 This cellphone 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.
- 这 个 包 很 好看 。 This bag looks good.
- 你 做 的 菜 很 好吃 。 The food you make is delicious.
- 我 觉得 上海 很 好玩 。 I think Shanghai is a lot of fun.
See also
- Difficult to do something
- 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
