Expressing "difficult" with "nan"

Revision as of 01:47, 30 January 2013 by Guomubai (talk | contribs)

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 hard to purchase now.

Structure with Sensitive Verbs

难 (nán) can also be attached to sensitive verbs ( like:look, taste, smell, sound and so on) 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

Sources and further reading

Books