<p>For some reason Mandarin thinks a degree qualifier is needed even when you just normally use adjectives. So, for the meaning to be same, Mandarin usually can't say structures like English </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>You are beautiful.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Which does not have a word to qualify the adjective's degree. [1]</p>

<p>Mandarin usually uses words / constructions like <code>很</code>, <code>挺(...的)</code>, <code>满/蛮...的</code> to express when there is not really any remarkable degree qualification. </p>

<p>As for <code>好</code>, it is used to mark <em>subjectivity</em>: that the quality is a subjective feeling or evaluation, which varies from being just a subjective marker to meaning "very", much like how the word <code>很</code> is in Mandarin.</p>

<p>The counterpart to <em>subjective</em> would be <em>objective</em>: that you are merely stating a fact. English makes this kind of distinction with word pairs like "very" and "so": "You are so beautiful" means roughly the same as "You are very beautiful", except that the speaker is signaling a subjective opinion.</p>

<p>You <em>could</em> say your sentence with the objective counterpart: 你很美 would be stating something like "you are beautiful as a matter of fact". Sure, it could ultimately still boil down to the speaker's subjective opinions if we talk philosophy, but the meaning being conveyed is different.</p>

<hr>

<p>[1] (<a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/13925/what-is-the-nuance-of-%E5%BE%88%E5%A5%BD">What is the nuance of 很好?</a> Explains when the degree qualifier can be omitted. </p>

<p>Basically, when you are stating some quality absolutely, as if attaching such a label -- which implies a comparison like the one described in the accepted answer.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-13T05:42:50.643Z
2017-06-13T05:42:50.643Z
Rethliopuks
<p>It's rare to use "noun + adj" as a whole sentence in daily life. Usually, people will add "adv" before adj to make the sentence sound more comfortable and normal.
For example, in your example, people usually say:</p>

<p>你好漂亮</p>

<p>你真漂亮</p>

<p>"好" and "真" means "very" here, but the speaker doesn't intentionally want to express this meaning. These words are used here just because this is a common structure "noun + adv + adj" to say in daily life.</p>

<p>Another example:</p>

<p>今天天气真好 What a good weather today
Without 真, it becomes 今天天气好, which sounds strange because of its core structure "noun + adj" as a whole sentence.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T22:39:57.733Z
2017-06-08T22:45:07.880Z
2017-06-08T22:45:07.880Z
Patroclus
<p>The direct translation of "You're beautiful", of course, is 你漂亮.</p>

<p>However, 你漂亮 sounds uncomfortable in the modern Chinese dialogue but more like ancient Chinese.</p>

<p>For example, 汝美, is how ancient Chinese might say "You're beautiful", where 汝 means "you" and 美 means "beautiful". And 汝美 has the same structure as 你漂亮.</p>

<p>To make it sounds more like modern Chinese and differentiate from ancient Chinese, we add 好 to it. And in this case, 好 means "very" or "so". It does not affect the meaning of the sentence but makes the compliment sound more sincere.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T21:12:44.753Z
2017-06-08T21:12:44.753Z
Seaky Lone
<p>When I used a translation engine to translate <em>You are beautiful</em>, the result was 你好漂亮.</p>

<p>I know that 你 means <em>you</em> and 漂亮 means <em>pretty</em>. But we is there this 好 in the middle of the sentence. It means <em>good</em>, <em>well</em>, and this doesn't fit into the sentence at all!</p>

<p>Thanks a lot!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T17:40:42.987Z
'好' also means 'very'. Just look it up in dictionary.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T18:24:01.247Z
enter 好漂亮 in jukuu, get 100 samples of which 1-50 all have this unbroken sequence
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T20:50:14.563Z
@Tang Ho: wiktionary says: *(somewhat dialectal) very; quite; rather;*. And I've always thought that 很 means *very*, just like in 我很好
marmistrz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T20:50:51.263Z
@user6065: but this doesn't explain **why** 好 is in the sequence
marmistrz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-08T21:10:09.490Z
look at English translations at jukuu, 好 seems not to correspond to anything in the translation, which is just "beautiful, pretty" etc.,"presence of degree adverbs (e.g.很，非常，好）removes any implication of contrast that is latent in an unmarked predicative adjective", this fundamental fact has been discussed at this site often enough before
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-09T03:45:57.563Z
previous discussions of this topic: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/13925/what-is-the-nuance-of-%e5%be%88%e5%a5%bd  https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/14683/when-should-i-use-%e5%be%88-before-an-adjective
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-12T08:41:57.540Z
used to adjust tones (when there are no verbs).
Daniel Yang
<vocabulary>
Why do we have 好 in translation of "You're beautiful"?
# Why do we have 好 in translation of "You're beautiful"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-08)

When I used a translation engine to translate *You are beautiful*, the result was 你好漂亮.

I know that 你 means *you* and 漂亮 means *pretty*. But we is there this 好 in the middle of the sentence. It means *good*, *well*, and this doesn't fit into the sentence at all!

Thanks a lot!

**Tags:** vocabulary

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: '好' also means 'very'. Just look it up in dictionary.  
> **username_2**: enter 好漂亮 in jukuu, get 100 samples of which 1-50 all have this unbroken sequence  
> **username_0**: @username_1: wiktionary says: *(somewhat dialectal) very; quite; rather;*. And I've always thought that 很 means *very*, just like in 我很好  
> **username_0**: @username_2: but this doesn't explain **why** 好 is in the sequence  
> **username_2**: look at English translations at jukuu, 好 seems not to correspond to anything in the translation, which is just "beautiful, pretty" etc.,"presence of degree adverbs (e.g.很，非常，好）removes any implication of contrast that is latent in an unmarked predicative adjective", this fundamental fact has been discussed at this site often enough before  
> **username_2**: previous discussions of this topic: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/13925/what-is-the-nuance-of-%e5%be%88%e5%a5%bd  https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/14683/when-should-i-use-%e5%be%88-before-an-adjective  
> **username_3**: used to adjust tones (when there are no verbs).  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-06-13. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

For some reason Mandarin thinks a degree qualifier is needed even when you just normally use adjectives. So, for the meaning to be same, Mandarin usually can't say structures like English

> You are beautiful.

Which does not have a word to qualify the adjective's degree. [1]

Mandarin usually uses words / constructions like `很`, `挺(...的)`, `满/蛮...的` to express when there is not really any remarkable degree qualification.

As for `好`, it is used to mark *subjectivity*: that the quality is a subjective feeling or evaluation, which varies from being just a subjective marker to meaning "very", much like how the word `很` is in Mandarin.

The counterpart to *subjective* would be *objective*: that you are merely stating a fact. English makes this kind of distinction with word pairs like "very" and "so": "You are so beautiful" means roughly the same as "You are very beautiful", except that the speaker is signaling a subjective opinion.

You *could* say your sentence with the objective counterpart: 你很美 would be stating something like "you are beautiful as a matter of fact". Sure, it could ultimately still boil down to the speaker's subjective opinions if we talk philosophy, but the meaning being conveyed is different.

---

[1] ([What is the nuance of 很好?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/13925/what-is-the-nuance-of-%E5%BE%88%E5%A5%BD) Explains when the degree qualifier can be omitted.

Basically, when you are stating some quality absolutely, as if attaching such a label -- which implies a comparison like the one described in the accepted answer.)


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-06-08. Score: 2

It's rare to use "noun + adj" as a whole sentence in daily life. Usually, people will add "adv" before adj to make the sentence sound more comfortable and normal.
For example, in your example, people usually say:

你好漂亮

你真漂亮

"好" and "真" means "very" here, but the speaker doesn't intentionally want to express this meaning. These words are used here just because this is a common structure "noun + adv + adj" to say in daily life.

Another example:

今天天气真好 What a good weather today
Without 真, it becomes 今天天气好, which sounds strange because of its core structure "noun + adj" as a whole sentence.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2017-06-08. Score: 1

The direct translation of "You're beautiful", of course, is 你漂亮.

However, 你漂亮 sounds uncomfortable in the modern Chinese dialogue but more like ancient Chinese.

For example, 汝美, is how ancient Chinese might say "You're beautiful", where 汝 means "you" and 美 means "beautiful". And 汝美 has the same structure as 你漂亮.

To make it sounds more like modern Chinese and differentiate from ancient Chinese, we add 好 to it. And in this case, 好 means "very" or "so". It does not affect the meaning of the sentence but makes the compliment sound more sincere.


---

