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).

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。Xìngkuī wǒmen zǒu de zǎo, bùrán jiù chídào le.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。Xìnghǎo 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.
• 幸亏 你 在，不然 我 不 知道 该 找 谁。Xìngkuī nǐ zài, bùrán wǒ bù zhīdao gāi zhǎo shéi.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。Xìnghǎo tāmen dōu zǒu le, bùrán wǒ yào fēng le.Luckily, they all left, otherwise I could be driven crazy.
• 幸好 今天 带 伞 了，不然 要 淋湿 了。Xìnghǎo jīntiān dài sǎn le,bùrán yào línshī le.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. And if you want to add in 不然 for an "otherwise... (this really bad thing would have happened)" explanation, use this structure:

Structure

还好 + [Lucky Incident]， 不然……

Examples

• 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。Hái hǎo wǒ bǎocún le, bùrán wénjiàn dōu diū le.Luckily I saved it, otherwise I would have lost all of the documents.
• 还好 我 买 得 少，不然 都 浪费 了。Hái hǎo mǎi de shǎo, bùrán dōu làngfèi le.Luckily I didn't buy a lot, otherwise the food would be all wasted.
• 还好 老板 不 知道，不然 你 肯定 被 炒 鱿鱼。Hái hǎo lǎobǎn bù zhīdao, 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，不然 我 肯定 忘 了。Hái hǎo nǐ tíxǐng wǒ, bùrán wǒ kěndìng wàng le.Luckily, you reminded me, otherwise I would have definitely forgotten.

See also

• "Thanks to" somebody with "duokui"

Sources and further reading

Dictionaries

• 现代汉语词典（第5版） (pp. 1527) →buy