eric
/
ChineseGrammarWiki


			
				
					
						
						
							123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114
							<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
  <meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy for HTML5 for Linux version 5.2.0"/>
  <title>Using "hao" to mean "easy"</title>
  <link href="../Styles/main.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
</head>

<body>
  <h1>Using "<span class="pinyinst">hao</span>" "<span class="hanzist">好</span>" to mean "easy"</h1>

  <p>Of course <span class="hanzi">好</span> (<span class="pinyin">hǎo</span>) 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 <span class="hanzi">好</span> (<span class="pinyin">hǎo</span>) before a verb.</p>

  <h2 id="general-verbs">General Verbs</h2>

  <p>Just as <span class="hanzi">难</span> (<span class="pinyin">nán</span>) can be used to indicate that it's hard to do something, <span class="hanzi">好</span> (<span class="pinyin">hǎo</span>) can also come before verbs to indicate that something is easy to do.</p>

  <h3 id="structure">Structure</h3>

  <p>The simple form is just:</p>

  <div class="deux">
    <p><span class="hanzist">好</span> + Verb</p>
  </div>

  <p>If you want to make a sentence out of it:</p>

  <div class="deux">
    <p>Subj. + (<span class="hanzist">很</span>) <span class="hanzist">好</span> + Verb</p>
  </div>

  <h3 id="examples">Examples</h3>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">这 个 词 的 意思 很 好懂。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zhège cí de yìsi hěn hǎo dǒng.</span> <br/> The meaning of this word is easy to understand.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">这 个 汉字 很 好写。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zhège Hànzì hěn hǎo xiě.</span> <br/> This Chinese character is easy to write.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">三明治 很 好做。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Sānmíngzhì hěn hǎo zuò.</span> <br/> Sandwiches are easy to make.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">苹果 手机 现在 很 好买。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Píngguǒ shǒujī xiànzài hěn hǎo mǎi.</span> <br/> iPhones are easy to buy now.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">这 个 笔 很 好用。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zhège bǐ hěn hǎo yòng.</span> <br/> This pen is easy to use.</li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <h2 id="exceptions">Exceptions</h2>

  <p><span class="hanzi">好</span> (<span class="pinyin">hǎo</span>) 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").</p>

  <p>There's a limited number of these, but some of them are super common, so just memorize them as exceptions:</p>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">好吃</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎochī</span> <br/> good to taste, good to eat, delicious</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">好喝</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎohē</span> <br/> good to taste, good to drink</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">好看</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎokàn</span> <br/> good to look at, good-looking, attractive</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">好听</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎotīng</span> <br/> good to listen to, pleasant to listen to, good-sounding</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">好闻</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎowén</span> <br/> good to smell, smells good, good-smelling</li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <p>The word for "<b>fun</b>" in Chinese is also of this form, even though it's not a sense verb:</p>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">好玩</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">hǎowán </span> <br/> fun</li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <h3 id="examples-1">Examples</h3>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">这 首 歌 很 好听 。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zhè shǒu gē hěn hǎotīng.</span> <br/> This song is great.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">这 种 茶 很 好闻 。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zhè zhǒng chá hěn hǎowén.</span> <br/> This kind of tea smells good.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">你 的 新 包 很 好看 。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Nǐ de xīn bāo hěn hǎokàn.</span> <br/> Your new bag looks good.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">妈妈 做 的 菜 很 好吃 。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Māma zuò de cài hěn hǎochī.</span> <br/> The food mom makes is delicious.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我 觉得 上海 很 好玩 。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Wǒ juéde Shànghǎi hěn hǎowán.</span> <br/> I think Shanghai is a lot of fun.</li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="Expressing_&quot;difficult&quot;_with_&quot;nan&quot;" title="wikilink">Expressing "difficult" with "nan"</a></li>

    <li><a href="Expressing_Difficulty_with_&quot;hao_(bu)_rongyi&quot;" title="wikilink">Expressing Difficulty with "hao (bu) rongyi"</a></li>

    <li><a href="Expressing_purpose_with_&quot;haorang&quot;" title="wikilink">Expressing purpose with "haorang"</a> (advanced article)</li>
  </ul>

  <h2 id="sources-and-further-reading">Sources and further reading</h2>

  <h3 id="books">Books</h3>

  <ul>
    <li>Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (p. 232)</li>

    <li><span class="hanzi">卓越汉语－公司实战篇</span> (p. 52)</li>
  </ul>
</body>
</html>