坏壞 huài — bad (of a person, a thing, news)
huài (fourth tone, falling)huai4
Traditional: 壞
bad (of a person, a thing, news)
HSK 3· HSK 1–4 (classic)Level 3· Three-band, nine-level standardadjectiveverb
Meanings
bad (of a person, a thing, news)
The opposite of 好 across its whole range: a 坏人 is a bad person, 坏天气 is bad weather. Before a noun it needs no 的 — 坏人, 坏消息 — the way 好 does not either.
adjectiveto break down, to go off (of a machine or food)
verbIn this sense 坏 reports a change, so it takes 了 and refuses 很: 我的手机坏了, never 我的手机很坏 — which would accuse the phone of being wicked.
Example sentences
- 我的手机坏了。我的手機壞了。Wǒ (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) shǒujī (third tone, dipping) huài (fourth tone, falling) le. (neutral tone)···
My phone has stopped working.
- 他不是坏人，只是不太认真。他不是壞人，只是不太認真。Tā (first tone, high and level) bú (second tone, rising) shì (fourth tone, falling) huàirén, (fourth tone, falling) zhǐshì (third tone, dipping) bú (second tone, rising) tài (fourth tone, falling) rènzhēn. (fourth tone, falling)···
He isn’t a bad person, he just isn’t very careful.
Common mistakes
Not quite我的电脑很坏。
Correct我的电脑坏了。
A broken machine is a change of state, and Chinese reports a change with 了, not with 很. 很坏 would say the computer has a bad character.