Expressing purpose with "hao"

好 (hǎo) can mean "in order to or "for the sake of" when coming before a verb phrase, and therefore expresses the purpose. You might think of it as a more advanced version of the "easy to [verb]" 好.

Structure

Action ，好 + Purpose

Examples

• 她 睡前 常常 喝 牛奶 ，好 入睡 。Tā shuì qián chángcháng hē niúnǎi, hǎo rùshuì.She often drinks milk before bedtime to help her fall asleep.
• 老师 ，请 说 慢 点儿 ，我们 好 做 笔记 。Lǎoshī, qǐng shuō màn diǎnr, wǒmen hǎo zuò bǐjì.Teacher, you need to speak a little slower so that we can write them down.
• 请 把 车 停 到 里面 ，好 让 别人 走路 。Qǐng bǎ chē tíng dào lǐmiàn, hǎo ràng biérén zǒulù.Please park the car inside so that other people can walk.
• 他 学习 非常 努力，好 考 个 好 大学。Tā xuéxí fēicháng nǔlì, hǎo kǎo gè hào dàxué.He is studying very hard so that he can get into a good university.
• 她 在 学 中文，好 听得懂 别人 说 什么。Tā zàixué zhōngwén, hǎo tīng de dǒng biérén shuō shénme.She is learning Chinese so that she can understand what people say.
• 小明 今天 把 自己 打扮 得 很 帅气 ，好 给 别人 留 一个 好 印象。Xiǎo Míng jīntiān bǎ zìjǐ dǎbàn de hěn shuàiqì, hǎo gěi biérén liú yī gè hǎo yìnxiàng.Xiao Ming has dressed himself up very handsomely today to give others a good impression of him.
• 我 给 所有 的 文件 分 了 类，这样 好 容易 找到。Wǒ gěi suǒyǒu de wénjiàn fēnle lèi, zhèyàng hǎo róngyì zhǎodào.I've sorted all the documents into categories so that they're easy to find.
• 我 已经 定 好了 闹钟，好 抢 票。Wǒ yǐjīng dìnghǎo le nàozhōng, hǎo qiǎng piào.I've already set my alarm clock so that I can grab the tickets.
• 公司 整理 了 最近 几个月 的 资金 记录，好 制定 下一 季度 的 计划。Gōngsī zhěnglǐle zuìjìn jǐ gè yuè de zījīn jìlù, hǎo zhìdìng xià yī jìdù de jìhuà.The company has compiled the financial records of the last few months to make a plan for the next quarter.
• 导游 给 每个人 都 发了 一个 帽子，这样 好 找到 每个人。Dǎoyóu gěi měi gèrén dōu fāle yī gè màozi, zhèyàng hǎo zhǎodào měi gèrén.The tour guide has given everyone a hat, so it's easy to find everyone.

See also

• Easy to do something
• Result complement "-hao"
• "lai" used to connect two verb phrases

Sources and Further Reading

Books

• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课下册) (pp. 569 ) [ →buy]

HSK5