难吃 / 难看 / 难懂【nánchī / nánkàn / nándǒng】

hard to, difficult to, unpleasant, bad tasting, ugly, nan

难 before a verb means "hard to do", or with a sense verb "unpleasant to": 。 is "this character is hard to write", and 难吃 is "tastes bad". The pair acts as an adjective.

HSK 3

AI-generated

Structure

[subject] + 很 + 难 + [verb]

[subject] + 很 + 难吃 / 难看 / 难听 / 难喝

Description

难 before a verb makes "hard to do". The thing that's hard to deal with is the subject, and the whole phrase behaves like an adjective, so it takes 很, 太 or 非常 in front.

。

This character is hard to write.

。

What he says is hard to understand.

。

This question isn't hard to answer.

难吃, 难看, 难听: unpleasant

With a verb of the senses, 难 means "unpleasant to" rather than "hard to". These pairs are everyday words, and each is the opposite of the 好 word: 好吃 and 难吃, 好看 and 难看.

。

This dish tastes awful.

。

This song sounds terrible.

。

That jacket is a bit ugly.

难受 is a feeling word of its own, "feel awful", in body or mood.

，。

He felt terrible when he heard the news.

难看 is not "hard to see"

Read literally, 难看 should be "hard to see", but it means "ugly". 黑板上的字很难看 says the handwriting on the board is ugly. To say you can't make it out, use 看不清楚.

。

I can't make out the writing on the board.

很, not 是

Like any adjective, a 难 phrase takes 很 and not 是.

× 中文是难学 → 中文很难学

Examples

。

This character is hard to write.

。

What he says is hard to understand.

。

This question isn't hard to answer.

。

This dish tastes awful.

。

This song sounds terrible.

。

That jacket is a bit ugly.

。

This medicine tastes horrible.

？

Is Chinese hard to learn?

。

His place is hard to find.

。

It's hard to say.

，。

He felt terrible when he heard the news.

。

Good teachers are hard to find.

References

Expressing "difficult" with "nan"resources.allsetlearning.com

除非

难怪