adjective HSK 1
Traditional 難
difficult · hard · troublesome
Meaning
难 is one of the most fundamental words in Mandarin, describing something that requires effort, skill, or causes difficulty. It can describe tasks, questions, situations, or anything challenging to accomplish or understand.
Usage
难 is extremely common in everyday speech. It typically comes before verbs (难做 'hard to do') or nouns (难题 'difficult problem'). The opposite 容易 (róng yì) is equally common. When expressing difficulty in doing something, the pattern is: 难 + verb.
Examples
- 01这个问题太难了。.This question is too difficult.
- 02中文难学吗？?Is Chinese hard to learn?
Common collocations
- 很难very difficult
- 难说hard to say
- 难以hard to, difficult to
- 难免hard to avoid, inevitable
Antonyms
Origin
The traditional form 難 originally depicted a type of bird that was hard to catch or identify, symbolizing difficulty. The simplified form 难 reduces the character's complexity while maintaining the pronunciation.