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 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