How to use 还
还 + Adj.
还 can moderate a favorable description, especially in familiar expressions with 好, 行, 可以, or 不错. The result often means that something is acceptable or reasonably good without presenting it as outstanding. It can give a balanced assessment, soften praise, or make a speaker's description sound modest.
Do not assign every occurrence the same level of enthusiasm. Expectations and delivery can make a moderate expression sound reassuring, pleasantly surprised, or faintly unenthusiastic. A speaker may also follow it with a reservation that clarifies the judgment. This evaluative use differs from 还 meaning “still” or adding another action. Read the predicate and conversational purpose to identify which meaning is relevant.
Examples with pinyin and English
我还好。
I'm OK.
爸爸做的菜还可以。
The food that dad cooks is OK.
我们老板还不错。
Our boss is not too bad.
这家店还行，不太贵。
This shop is OK. It's not too expensive.
What to remember
- Learn the common positive combinations.
- Expectations influence how favorable they sound.
- Separate evaluation from “still” and “also.”
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Source and editorial notes
Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.