Various uses of 好

[Sachaoc]

晚上好。

I have a question relating to the use of 好 when modifying adjectives. Is there a rule determining when you should use 很 and  when you can use 好  to mean 'very'? 

eg.他个字 很高   and 我好冷  - are 很 and  好 interchangeable? I don't think so....but wondering if there's a rule..

 

Thanks in advance.

[Publius]

你好！

Basically the adverb 很 is standard Mandarin while 好 is the equivalent in southern varieties of Chinese. But 好 has another function. It's also used to express emotions when standard Mandarin would use 真. As far as I know, the indiscriminate use of 好 instead of 很 was popularized by Hong Kong / Taiwan singers in the 80s and 90s (好高興又和大家見面。歌迷們的支持讓我好感動好感動). Mainland 藝人 began to emulate this kind of 港臺腔, and now they are practically interchangeable. But a northern speaker would avoid the repetition of 好, for example, 你對我好好(你對我真好), 好好吃啊(太好吃了), etc. Hope this helps.

[889]

I'll add that to my ear at least, 好 tends to sound more colloquial, and 很 a bit more formal. Somewhat like the difference between real and very in English:

 

"This is real tasty!"

 

"This is very tasty!"

[abcdefg]

2 hours ago, 889 said:

I'll add that to my ear at least, 好 tends to sound more colloquial, and 很 a bit more formal. Somewhat like the difference between real and very in English:

 

Agree (I live in the southwest -- Kunming.) 

 

 

[歐博思]

If you're not smashing a bottle of 白酒 over someone's head, just use 好.

 

This comment brought to you by: Exaggerated Northerners' Behavior™

[Dawei3]

I'll also add:  In the North, the use of 好 instead of 很 by a guy can be considered somewhat feminine.  Hence, guys are less likely to use it in the North even if they come from the south.  However, as with any usage issue, you can likely get different viewpoints on this (and I'd welcome hearing them).    

 

Ironically, about the same time I saw this post, a female friend from 广西 who lives in 北京 wrote me "好喜欢你送的巧克力呀."  I asked her about the feminine aspect and she said it's particularly feminine when the 好 is repeated, 比如:   "好好吃" or “好好玩."   

 

 

[DavyJonesLocker]

1 hour ago, Dawei3 said:

I'll also add:  In the North, the use of 好 instead of 很 by a guy can be considered somewhat feminine.  Hence, guys are less likely to use it in the North even if they come from the south.  However, as with any usage issue, you can likely get different viewpoints on this (and I'd welcome hearing them).    

 

Yup I agree. I was told on at least two separate occasions by females so basically stopped using it. 

 

On a wider note I was told that my Chinese sounds a bit feminine in my word usage by a few people. Not exactly happy to hear that but I attribute that to every teacher I had being female and most texts books I have appear to be written by females (as verified by some Chinese). 

 

Not something I ever give much thought to in  English

 

[Publius]

Okay, this is from 现代汉语词典:

 

很 hěn
副词，表示程度相当高：～快丨～不坏丨～喜欢丨～能办事丨好得～丨大家的意思～接近丨我～知道他的脾气。

 

好 hǎo

(13)用在形容词、动词前，表示程度深，并带感叹语气：～冷丨～香丨～漂亮丨～面熟丨～大的工程丨原来你躲在这儿，害得我～找！

 

So apart from the obvious positional restriction, the only difference seems to be the 感叹语气.

To a northerner, if you use 好 when there's nothing to 感叹 about, you come across a bit too dramatic, which I believe contributes to the perception that it belongs to female speech. (Preface every other sentence with OMG and see how people react.)

 

Some southern topolects don't have this distinction and 很 is not part of their native vocabulary. For example, the first dialogue in a Cantonese textbook that I used runs like this:

早晨，王先生。

早晨，張小姐。你好嗎？

我好好。你呢？

好好。

你太太呢？

佢都好，有心。

Clearly 很 is not used in Cantonese at all. And when Cantonese people speak Mandarin, they sometimes carry their native Cantonese speech pattern into Mandarin.

 

And there's another reason why singers, hosts, etc. are particularly fond of replacing 很 with 好. They want to connect with the audience. They don't want to appear cold and emotionless. So a bit of exaggeration is understandable. But as an ordinary person, well, it's your call how much is too much.