Welcome to our Chinese learning series – Ask Litao. In each video of this new series, we’re going to answer your questions about learning Chinese.

Today’s question is from one of our YouTube students. In comments he wrote, “What are the authentic translations for the following phrases please? 好了(Hǎo le)! 好啊(Hǎo a)! 好的(Hǎo de)! and 好吧(Hǎo ba)!”

1. 好啊(Hǎo a), 好的(Hǎo de) and 好吧(Hǎo ba) have the same structure, which is “好(hǎo) + modal particle”.
They all can be used to give a positive answer, which tell people that you accept or agree with something, such as a suggestion or invitation. But because of the different modal particles, the three phrases imply different emotions.

For example, your friend suggest:
我们今晚去吃四川菜，好不好？
Wǒmen jīnwǎn qù chī Sìchuāncài, hǎo bu hǎo?

If you think that going to have Sichuan food is a great idea, you really want to eat Sichuan food with your friend, then you can answer with 好啊(hǎo a).
啊(a) here expresses a very strong approval, we know that you’re excited about it. 好啊(hǎo a) can be translated as “great”.

If your answer is 好的(hǎo de), which is also a positive response, it means that you’re happy and willing to have Sichuan food with your friend. Compare to 好啊(hǎo a), 好的(hǎo de) is just a little bit less strong, which is similar to “good” or “very good”.

好吧(hǎo ba) sounds much more negative, actually you don’t really want to eat Sichuan food tonight, you don’t think it’s a good idea, but there’s a big chance that you’re still going to have Sichuan food for dinner with your friend, just because you don’t want to say no to him or her, or there is no better option. 吧(ba) here implies that you accept or agree with something that you’re not really happy about or you don’t have better options. 好吧(hǎo ba) is like “all right” or “fine”.

In real life, if you respond with 好吧(hǎo ba), other people can easily feel that you’re not truly happy about their suggestion or invitation, however you will accept it. So you should be careful about using the phrase 好吧(hǎo ba) if you don’t want to cause any awkward situations.

2. When 好了(hǎo le) is used alone, there two meanings about it.

First, if you’re tired of listening to somebody, you have heard enough already of their opinions, complaints, jokes or advices, and you want them stop talking, then you can use this phrase 好了(hǎo le), which means “it’s enough! stop it!”

For example, your parents always remind you that don’t play the mobile phone all the time, it’s bad for your eyes.
不要一直玩儿手机，对你的眼睛不好！
Búyào yīzhí wánr shǒujī, duì nǐ de yǎnjīng bù hǎo!
Let’s say it’s the tenth time they say this to you today, you’re tired of listening to them, you respond with
好了，我知道！
Hǎo le, wǒ zhìdào!
I have heard enough already, I know!
You don’t want them say it again.

The second meaning of 好了(hǎo le) is “it’s done” or “it’s ready”.
For example, you see all your colleagues are here in the conference room, you think it’s ready to start the meeting, so you can say:
好了，我们开会吧！
Hǎo le, wǒmen kāihuì ba!
Well, let’s start the meeting! / It’s ready, let’s start!

Another example, you’re listening to music while writing an email at work, a colleague next to you is going to ask you some questions, you tell him wait a second, and you save your email, take off the headphones, then you say to him:
好了，你有什么问题？
Hǎo le, nǐ yǒu shénme wèntí?
It means “Now I’m done with my work, or I’m ready now, what is your question?”

Here is question for you:
A client sent a message to ask you if it’s ok to meet you at 3 pm tomorrow.
我们明天下午三点见面，怎么样？
Wǒmen míngtiān xiàwǔ sāndiǎn jiànmiàn, zěnmeyàng?
Actually 3:00 pm tomorrow is not convenient to you, but this is a very important client who you can’t say no to him/her, so you decided to accept it, although you are not happy about the time of the meeting.
Is it good to reply with 好吧(hǎo ba) to this client?
Please leave you answer in the comments.

Welcome to our Chinese learning series – Ask Litao. In each video of this new series, we’re going to answer your questions about learning Chinese.

Today’s question is from one of our YouTube students. In comments he wrote, “What are the authentic translations for the following phrases please? 好了(Hǎo le)! 好啊(Hǎo a)! 好的(Hǎo de)! and 好吧(Hǎo ba)!”

1. 好啊(Hǎo a), 好的(Hǎo de) and 好吧(Hǎo ba) have the same structure, which is “好(hǎo) + modal particle”.
They all can be used to give a positive answer, which tell people that you accept or agree with something, such as a suggestion or invitation. But because of the different modal particles, the three phrases imply different emotions.

For example, your friend suggest:
我们今晚去吃四川菜，好不好？
Wǒmen jīnwǎn qù chī Sìchuāncài, hǎo bu hǎo?

If you think that going to have Sichuan food is a great idea, you really want to eat Sichuan food with your friend, then you can answer with 好啊(hǎo a).
啊(a) here expresses a very strong approval, we know that you’re excited about it. 好啊(hǎo a) can be translated as “great”.

If your answer is 好的(hǎo de), which is also a positive response, it means that you’re happy and willing to have Sichuan food with your friend. Compare to 好啊(hǎo a), 好的(hǎo de) is just a little bit less strong, which is similar to “good” or “very good”.

好吧(hǎo ba) sounds much more negative, actually you don’t really want to eat Sichuan food tonight, you don’t think it’s a good idea, but there’s a big chance that you’re still going to have Sichuan food for dinner with your friend, just because you don’t want to say no to him or her, or there is no better option. 吧(ba) here implies that you accept or agree with something that you’re not really happy about or you don’t have better options. 好吧(hǎo ba) is like “all right” or “fine”.

In real life, if you respond with 好吧(hǎo ba), other people can easily feel that you’re not truly happy about their suggestion or invitation, however you will accept it. So you should be careful about using the phrase 好吧(hǎo ba) if you don’t want to cause any awkward situations.

2. When 好了(hǎo le) is used alone, there two meanings about it.

First, if you’re tired of listening to somebody, you have heard enough already of their opinions, complaints, jokes or advices, and you want them stop talking, then you can use this phrase 好了(hǎo le), which means “it’s enough! stop it!”

For example, your parents always remind you that don’t play the mobile phone all the time, it’s bad for your eyes.
不要一直玩儿手机，对你的眼睛不好！
Búyào yīzhí wánr shǒujī, duì nǐ de yǎnjīng bù hǎo!
Let’s say it’s the tenth time they say this to you today, you’re tired of listening to them, you respond with
好了，我知道！
Hǎo le, wǒ zhìdào!
I have heard enough already, I know!
You don’t want them say it again.

The second meaning of 好了(hǎo le) is “it’s done” or “it’s ready”.
For example, you see all your colleagues are here in the conference room, you think it’s ready to start the meeting, so you can say:
好了，我们开会吧！
Hǎo le, wǒmen kāihuì ba!
Well, let’s start the meeting! / It’s ready, let’s start!

Another example, you’re listening to music while writing an email at work, a colleague next to you is going to ask you some questions, you tell him wait a second, and you save your email, take off the headphones, then you say to him:
好了，你有什么问题？
Hǎo le, nǐ yǒu shénme wèntí?
It means “Now I’m done with my work, or I’m ready now, what is your question?”

Here is question for you:
A client sent a message to ask you if it’s ok to meet you at 3 pm tomorrow.
我们明天下午三点见面，怎么样？
Wǒmen míngtiān xiàwǔ sāndiǎn jiànmiàn, zěnmeyàng?
Actually 3:00 pm tomorrow is not convenient to you, but this is a very important client who you can’t say no to him/her, so you decided to accept it, although you are not happy about the time of the meeting.
Is it good to reply with 好吧(hǎo ba) to this client?
Please leave you answer in the comments.