How to say good and bad in Chinese

In this post we’ll look at different ways to say “good” and “bad” in Chinese with varying degrees of strength.

At a basic level, every Chinese learner should first learn that 好hǎo (hǎo) means “good”, and 不bù好hǎo (bù​hǎo) means “not good”.

List of ways to say good and bad in Chinese

Below is a list of vocabulary for expressing “very good” to “very bad” in Chinese with example sentences:

Chinese / English	Example Sentence
很hěn不bù好hǎo hěn bù​hǎo very bad	我wǒ觉jué得de很hěn不bù好hǎo wǒ jué​de hěn bù​hǎo I feel very bad
不bù好hǎo bù​hǎo not good	不bù好hǎo看kàn bù hǎo​kàn not good looking
不bù太tài好hǎo bù​tài​hǎo not too good	天tiān气qì不bù太tài好hǎo tiān​qì bù​tài​hǎo The weather isn’t very good
马mǎ马ma虎hū虎hū mǎ​ma​hū​hū so-so	我wǒ的de中Zhōng文wén马mǎ马ma虎hū虎hū wǒ de Zhōng​wén mǎ​ma​hū​hū My Chinese is so-so
还hái可kě以yǐ hái kě​yǐ okay	他tā还hái可kě以yǐ tā hái kě​yǐ He’s okay
还hái不bù错cuò hái bù​cuò okay	学xué习xí怎zěn么me样yàng？?还hái不bù错cuò xué​xí zěn​me​yàng? hái bù​cuò How’s school? okay, not bad.
可kě以yǐ kě​yǐ fine	那nà可kě以yǐ nà kě​yǐ That’s fine
不bù错cuò bù​cuò good (“not bad”)	听tīng起qǐ来lai很hěn不bù错cuò tīng qǐ​lai hěn bù​cuò Sounds good
好hǎo hǎo good	我wǒ好hǎo wǒ hǎo I’m good
很hěn好hǎo hěn hǎo very good	他tā们men很hěn好hǎo tā​men hěn hǎo They’re very good
非fēi常cháng好hǎo fēi​cháng hǎo excellent	那nà是shì非fēi常cháng好hǎo的de nà shì fēi​cháng hǎo de That would be great

Example Dialogues

Below are some example dialogues using the good and bad vocabulary from the above list.

Example Dialogue 1:

你nǐ好hǎo吗ma？?
nǐ​hǎo ma?
How are you?

我wǒ很hěn好hǎo。.你nǐ呢ne？?
wǒ hěn hǎo. nǐ ne?
I’m good. How about you?

我wǒ不bù好hǎo。.
wǒ bù​hǎo.
I’m not good.

Example Dialogue 2:

你nǐ好hǎo吗ma？?
nǐ​hǎo ma?
How are you?

不bù太tài好hǎo，,马mǎ马ma虎hū虎hū。.
bù​tài​hǎo, mǎ​ma​hū​hū.
Not very good, just so-so.

Example Dialogue 3:

那nà里li的de天tiān气qì怎zěn么me样yàng？?
nà​li de tiān​qì zěn​me​yàng?
How is the weather there?

天tiān气qì非fēi常cháng好hǎo！!
tiān​qì fēi​cháng hǎo!
The weather is excellent!

Summary

As you can see there are a variety of ways to express the degree of how good or bad something or someone is in Chinese. You don’t need to memorise the entire list or dialogues, but try to make use of a few of the phrases to help to commit them to memory.