Fluentide
HSK 1

good; fine; okay

adjectiveneutral1 episode
hǎo3rd tone

HSK level

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Pinyin
hǎo
Part of speech
adjective
Level
HSK 1
Strokes
6
Register
neutral
In episodes
1

Stroke order for 好

is written with 6 strokes. The animation replays automatically.

What does 好 mean?

(hǎo) is the all-purpose 'good' of Mandarin and one of the first characters every learner meets.

As an adjective it describes anything positive — quality, character, weather, taste: 好书 (good book), 好人 (good person), 好天气 (good weather). As a standalone reply it means 'okay / sure / will do' — the way English uses 'sounds good.' It also appears in greetings (你好 = 'hi'), as an intensifier before adjectives meaning 'very / so' (好大 = 'so big,' 好漂亮 = 'so pretty'), and as a resultative complement on verbs meaning 'done / completed' (写好了 = 'finished writing').

One quirk: with a second 3rd tone after it (like 你好), keeps its written tone mark but is pronounced as a 'half-third' tone. is the workhorse word for approval, agreement, and quality in Chinese.

Hear 好 in real episodes

appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.

这个是的。

That is a good thing.

Bhutan Has Gone Three Years Without a Single Rabies Death — Because It Stopped Only Treating People and Started Vaccinating Dogs

Difficulty
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Example sentences

你好!

Nǐ hǎo!

Hi!

neutral

这本书很好。

Zhè běn shū hěn hǎo.

This book is very good.

neutral

好的,没问题。

Hǎo de, méi wèntí.

Okay, no problem.

spoken

今天天气好。

Jīntiān tiānqì hǎo.

The weather is nice today.

spoken

Common phrases with 好

好的hǎo deokay; will do
很好hěn hǎovery good
不好bù hǎonot good; bad
好看hǎokàngood-looking; nice to watch
好吃hǎochītasty; good to eat

Synonyms

不错búcuò

不错 literally 'not bad,' used like 'pretty good' — a notch below in enthusiasm, often safer with strangers or when grading something modestly. Native speakers use 不错 a lot to mean 'quite good.'

bàng

means 'awesome / excellent,' more colloquial and energetic than . 你真棒 = 'you're awesome.' is neutral; carries praise.

Don't confuse 好 with

hào

(hào, 4th tone) means 'number' or 'day of the month' (三号 = 'the 3rd,' '3rd in line'). (hǎo, 3rd tone) is 'good.' Same pinyin syllable, different tone, totally different meaning.

hěn

means 'very' and is the standard intensifier (很好 = 'very good'). itself can intensify too (好大!) but with a more emotional flavor — 'so big!' rather than the neutral 'very big.'

FAQ

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