Expressing "difficult" with "nan"

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

难 with General Verbs

Structure

Just as 好 (hǎo) 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 + Verb

Examples

  • 难 懂 Nán dǒng Hard to understand.
  • 这 句 话 很 难 懂Zhè jù huà hěn nán dǒng. This talk is hard to understand.
  • 难 学Nán xué Hard to learn.
  • 汉语 很 难 学Hànyǔ hěn nán xué. Mandarin is hard to learn.
  • 难 做Nán zuò Hard to do.
  • 三明治 很 难 做Sānmíngzhì hěn nán zuò. Sandwiches are hard to make.
  • 难 买Nán mǎi Hard to buy (as in probably hard to find).
  • 这 个 东西 现在 很 难 买Zhè gè dōngxī xiànzài hěn nán mǎi. This thing is really difficult to purchase now.
  • 难 写Nán xiě Difficult to write.
  • 这 个 汉字 很 难 写Zhè gè hànzì hěn nán xiě. This character is very difficult to write.

难 with Sense Verbs

Structure

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

Subject + (很) 难 + [Sense Verb]

Examples

  • 难听Nántīng Sounds bad (hard to listen to)
  • 这 首 歌 很 难听Zhè shǒu gē hěn nántīng. This song is terrible (This song is hard to listen to).
  • 难闻Nánwén Smells bad.
  • 这 只 小 猫 很 难闻Zhè zhǐ xiǎo māo hěn nánwén. This little cat smells bad.
  • 难看Nánkàn Looks bad/ugly (hard to look at)
  • 这 件 衣服 很 难看吗 ? Zhè jiàn yīfu hěn nánkàn ma? Is this piece of clothing ugly?
  • 难吃Nánchī Not good/hard to eat
  • 你 做 的 菜 很 难吃Nǐ zuò de cài hěn nánchī. The dishes you cook taste bad.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books