Of course 好 (hǎo) means
"good." But it can also be used to express that something is "easy
to do" or "good to do." And it is quite... easy to do! All
you need to do is place a 好 (hǎo) before a verb.
General Verbs
Just as 难 (nán) can be used to indicate that it's hard to do something, 好 (hǎo) can also come before
verbs to indicate that something is easy to do.
Structure
The simple form is just:
If you want to make a sentence out of it:
Examples
- 这 个 词 的 意思 很 好懂。Zhège cí de yìsi
hěn hǎo dǒng.The meaning of
this word is easy to understand.
- 这 个 汉字 很 好写。Zhège Hànzì hěn
hǎo xiě.This Chinese character
is easy to write.
- 三明治 很 好做。Sānmíngzhì hěn hǎo
zuò.Sandwiches are easy to
make.
- 苹果 手机 现在 很 好买。 Píngguǒ shǒujī
xiànzài hěn hǎo mǎi.iPhones are
easy to buy now.
- 这 个 笔 很 好用。Zhège bǐ hěn hǎo
yòng.This pen is easy to
use.
Exceptions
好 (hǎo) can also be attached to "sense verbs" (e.g. "look,"
"taste," "smell," etc.) to indicate that something is
'good to do'' (rather than "easy to do").
There's a limited number of these, but some of them are super
common, so just memorize them as exceptions:
- 好吃 hǎochīgood
to taste, good to eat, delicious
- 好喝 hǎohēgood to
taste, good to drink
- 好看 hǎokàn good
to look at, good-looking, attractive
- 好听 hǎotīnggood
to listen to, pleasant to listen to, good-sounding
- 好闻 hǎowéngood
to smell, smells good, good-smelling
The word for "fun" in Chinese is also of this form, even though
it's not a sense verb:
Examples
- 这 首 歌 很 好听 。 Zhè shǒu gē hěn
hǎotīng.This song is
great.
- 这 种 茶 很 好闻 。Zhè zhǒng chá hěn
hǎowén. This kind of tea smells
good.
- 你 的 新 包 很 好看 。Nǐ de xīn bāo hěn
hǎokàn.Your new bag looks
good.
- 妈妈 做 的 菜 很 好吃 。Māma zuò de cài
hěn hǎochī. The food mom makes
is delicious.
- 我 觉得 上海 很 好玩 。 Wǒ juéde Shànghǎi
hěn hǎowán.I think Shanghai is
a lot of fun.
See also
Sources and further
reading
Books
Category:A2 grammar points