The other day, I was chatting with one of my students before our class started. I asked him how was his trip to Yunnan. He told me that he was amazed by Yunnan, but when we switch the language to Chinese, it seems all the positive adjectives for "good" that he can instantly use are only "好hǎo".
It's not incorrect to describe everything with "好"：Hěnhǎo！Cài hěn hǎo，rén hěn hǎo，hěn hǎokàn，hěn piàoliang…Very good! The food is good. People are good. It's good looking. It's pretty.Hey, if you can use tons of adjectives to very "good" in English with "amazing, brilliant, fantastic, terrific, fabulous, awesome, incredible, marvelous…", why should you limit your Chinese with quite boring adjectives "好，好看，好吃，漂亮"?
After reading this article, I can ensure you will be equipped with a set of cool and modern adjectives to replace your boring "好".
Are you ready? Let's check them out! 👇
① 优秀 yōuxiù
Outstanding, excellent
优秀 is used in written language and in a serious context. For instance, teachers use "优秀" to grade student's performance in the semester report.Since a couple of years, the creative young generation moves "优秀" to the spoken language. It's also not that serious anymore, instead, you use "优秀" to give a compliment and inject the conversation with a trendy tone.
E.g.：
Tiānna，nǐ shēncái guǎnlǐ de hǎo yōuxiù a！Oh my goodness, how outstanding your figure management is!
超棒 is not a word, it's a phrase. 超chāo means super, 棒bàng means awesome. 超棒 together can be generally used for describing everything for amazing and super.Zhè jiā Yúnnán cài wèidào chāo bàng！The taste of this Yunnan restaurant is awesome!
酷kù meaning "cool" is originally from English mimicking the sound. 炫xuàn means "dazzle". 酷 and 炫 together becoming a fashionable word indicating "cool, fancy". It is has started to be creatively used by young people. When you see some novel and interesting inventions, "酷炫" is definitely the best word for you to describe it.
Wǒqu, zhè shì shénme kùxuàn hēi kējì a！Oh my god! What's this cool new technology!
云握手 - shaking hand on the "cloud" The latest 5G technology can make a non-delayed instant interview come true
Amazing, striking, stunningA common Chinese way to say "amazing". 惊艳 is from ancient Chinese. 惊 means "surprised", 艳 means "gorgeous".An ancient love story where the "惊艳" is from.The young man fell in love with the lady at first sight.
Grammatically we use 惊艳 as a phrase 令人惊艳 (lìngrén jīngyàn) meaning "make people amazed, striking". But it seems nowadays people also start to use "惊艳" more flexibly in some casual context.
Zhè ge jìnqiú jīngyàn dào wǒ le！Nǐ pāi le hǎo duō jīngyàn de zhàopiàn！
You took so many stunning photos!
This young generation of Chinese is probably the most dynamic Chinese people that you could ever meet. They start to explore and enjoy themselves with more curiosity than ever before. This attitude is also shaping the modern Chinese language. Nowadays people are becoming more expressive and more willing to praise other people in a direct way. So it's interesting to see some written positive adjectives such as 优秀 / yōuxiù，神奇 / shénqí have been used so frequently in spoken Chinese in recent years. The most suitable scenario to apply 神奇 is when you want to tell your friends some of your incredible experience.E.g.:
针灸治好了我的背痛。太神奇了！
Zhēnjiū zhì hǎo le wǒ de bèitòng。Tài shénqí le！
Acupuncture cures my backache. This is incredible!
The Chinese name of the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is "神奇动物在在哪里 / Shénqí dòngwù zài nǎlì"
That's all for today's sharing!
From now on, it's time to abandon 好 in your speaking! You've got so many fancy replacements, right? Keep practicing to reach a 优秀yōuxiù Chinese level！加油 jiāyóu!
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