In addition to being used in response to the greeting “Nǐ hǎo ma? (How are you?),” the phrases “hěn hǎo (very nice),” “hái búcuò (not bad),” “hái kěyǐ (it’s okay),” “bútài hǎo (not so good),” and “bù hǎo (not good)” can be given as answers to questions asking for the speaker’s assessment of a situation or thing/object. For this purpose, we are going to introduce the common expression “…… zěnmeyàng?”. Once you have mastered the unit, you will be able to use the five phrases above to respond to these kinds of questions.
Zěnmeyàng?
(Is it okay? How about it? What do you think? How does that sound?)
“Zěnmeyàng” is an interrogative expression and occurs at the end of a statement.
First, “zěnmeyàng” can be used to greet people, as in “(Nǐ)(Zuìjìn) Zěnmeyàng (a)? (How have you been (lately)?)”. (Please feel free to visit “Some Common Responses to the Greeting “How are you?” to practice this part.)
Second, “zěnmeyàng” can be used to ask for the other party’s opinions, like the questions in the video “Tiānqì zěnmeyàng? (How’s the weather?)” and “Zhèijiàn zěnmeyàng? (How/What do you think about this one?).” (jiàn = a measure word for clothing, pants, skirt, etc.) In response to this question, in addition to simply responding “very nice,” “not bad,” “it’s okay,” “not so good,” “not good,” etc., you can also elaborate further.
Responses to “Zhèijiàn zěnmeyàng?”
| The intensity of responses to Zhèijiàn zěnmeyàng? (How/What do you think about this one?) ranging from strongly positive to strongly negative is: | |||||
+ good |
– not good |
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hěn hǎo
(very good) |
hái búcuò
(not bad)
|
lǎoyàngzi
(same as usual) |
mǎmǎhūhū
(so so) |
bútài hǎo
(not so good) |
bù hǎo
(not good) |
|
|
|
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Hái búcuò. Nà wǒ *shìshì (/shìshi). (Not bad. I’ll try it (on).)
Hái kěyǐ. Nà wǒ zài *kànkàn (/kànkan). (It’s OK, but I’ll keep looking.)
Bù hǎo. Wǒ bù xǐhuān. (Not good. I don’t like it.)
| bù (adverb): not, no búcuò (adjectival verb): not bad bútài (adverb): not very hái (adverb): still hǎo (adjectival verb): fine, good, nice, okay, it’s settled hěn (adverb) : very jiàn (measure word): a measure word for dresses, shorts, coats, luggage, matters, etc. kàn (verb): to see, to look at, to watch |
kěyǐ (adjectival verb): passable, not bad, pretty good, good enough nà (determiner): that; then, in that case shì (verb): to try tiānqì (noun): weather wǒ (pronoun): I; me xǐhuān (verb): to like yàng (noun): way, appearance, shape zài (adverb): again zěnme (question word): how zhè (determiner): this |
