“Good” in Chinese: how to say it and how to write it
Good
“Good” in Chinese is 好, hǎo. The one word works both as a judgment (“good, well”) and as agreement (“OK, sure, let’s”). It is the same 好 as in the greeting 你好 — literally “you good”.
How to pronounce 好
- 好hǎogood, well; OK
hǎo is the third tone: the voice goes low, almost to the bottom, and only rises a little at the end when the word is said on its own. Don’t lift it up like a question — that would be a different tone. The h is rougher than the English h, with a light scrape in the throat, a softer version of the “ch” in Scottish “loch”. The “ao” glides into one sound, as in “how”. More about the character itself is on the word page 好.
“OK” in Chinese: 好 as agreement
- 好hǎoOK, sureshort and neutral
- 好的hǎodeOK, got itpolite, common in texts
- 好吧hǎobawell, all rightgiving in
- 行xíngfine, that workscasual
- 可以kěyǐyou can, suregiving permission
好 and 好的 are the everyday “OK” in answer to a request; 好的 is a little softer — it’s what you reply to a colleague, and what a waiter says to a guest. 好吧 is agreement without enthusiasm: “oh, all right then”. 行 has no judgment in it at all — it simply means “deal”.
The same word makes a suggestion: add 好吗 (hǎo ma) to the end of a sentence and you get “OK?”, “all right?”. The answer is 好 again. Other ways to agree are on the page “Yes” in Chinese.
- 嗯，好的。ǹg,hǎodemm-hm, OK
“Very good” in Chinese: 很好, 不错, 非常好
- 很好hěnhǎogood; very good
- 非常好fēichánghǎovery good, excellent
- 不错búcuòpretty good, nicepraise
- 好极了hǎojílesuperb
When you say something is good, 好 almost always has 很 in front of it. Here it doesn’t really mean “very” — it just links the words: 我很好 — “I’m fine”. A real “very good” is 非常好, or 太好了, “that’s great!”. 不错 literally means “not wrong”, but it is not a lukewarm “not bad” — it is genuine praise. 可以 as a judgment, on the other hand, means “it’ll do, it’s OK”.
- 你的汉语很好。nǐdeHànyǔhěnhǎoyour Chinese is good
- 这个想法不错。zhègexiǎngfǎbúcuòthat’s a good idea
- 总之，一切都很好。zǒngzhī,yíqièdōuhěnhǎoall in all, everything is fine
“Everything is fine” is 一切都很好, literally “everything, all of it, good”. As an answer to “how are you?” a short 我很好 is enough.
A common mistake: “he speaks well”
In English “well” goes with the verb: “he speaks well”, “she cooks well”. In Chinese you can’t put 好 in front of the verb like that: 好吃 and 好看 are separate words, “tasty” and “good-looking”. How an action is done goes after the verb, with the particle 得:
- 他说汉语说得很好。tāshuōHànyǔshuōdehěnhǎohe speaks Chinese well
The second trap is 我好 without 很: it sounds like a comparison, “I, on the other hand, am good”. Say .
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “good” in Chinese?
“Good” in Chinese is 好, in pinyin hǎo.
How do you pronounce 好?
好 is read hǎo. The marks over the vowels are the tones: each syllable has its own melody, so listen to the recording on this page and repeat it.
How do you write “good” in Chinese characters?
好 is 1 character. What each one means and how the phrase is put together is explained on this page.
What does 好 mean?
好 (hǎo) means “good”.
好 is a first-lesson word
In the course 好 comes up from the first minutes: in greetings, answers and praise. Listen, repeat and check your tone. Free during the beta.
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