Expressing "difficult" with "nan"

Whenever something is "hard to do" (as in difficult) or "bad to do" (as in bad experience), the word 难(nán) can be used.

Structure with General Verbs

Just as 好 can be used to indicate that it's easy to do something, 难 (nán) can be attached to verbs, except sensitive words, to indicate that something is hard to do. The structure is:

Subject +（很）难 + General Verb

Examples

• 难 懂Hard to understand.
• 这 句 话 很 难 懂。This talk is hard to understand.
• 难 学Hard to learn.
• 汉语 很 难 学。Mandarin is hard to learn.
• 难 做Hard to do.
• 三明治 很 难 做。Sandwiches are hard to make.
• 难 买Hard to buy (as in probably hard to find).
• 这 个 东西 现在 很 难 买。This thing is really difficult to purchase now.
• 难 写Difficult to write.
• 这 个 汉字 很 难 写。This character is very difficult to write.

Structure with Sensitive Verbs

难 (nán) can also be attached to sensitive verbs (e.g. look, taste, smell, etc.) to indicate that something is bad to do. The structure is:

Subject +（很）难 + Sensitive Verb

Examples

• 难听sounds bad(hard to listen to)
• 这 首 歌 很 难听。This song is terrible. (This song is hard to listen to.)
• 难闻smells bad(it stinks)
• 这 只 小 猫 很 难闻。This little cat smells bad.
• 难看hard to look at (looks bad/ugly)
• 这 件 衣服 很 难看吗？Is this piece of clothing ugly?
• 难吃disgusting (hard to eat)
• 你 做的菜 很 难吃。The dishes you cook taste bad.

See also

• Easy to do something
• Expressing Difficulty with "hao (bu) rongyi"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 232) →buy