Writing
难 (nán) — how to say "difficult" in Chinese
难
Difficult
adjective · verb
1. difficult; hard; toughHSK 3.0 · level 3
adjective
2. to make difficult; to put in a difficult positionHSK 3.0 · level 6
verb
Radicals / Keys
隹
Short-tailed bird
#172 · zhuī · 8 strokes
Collocations
难学
nán xué
difficult to learn
难问题
nán wèntí
difficult question
Examples
学习一门新的语言刚开始总是很难。
Learning a new language is always difficult at the beginning.
这个问题很难。
This question is very difficult.
Mnemonic
[nán-] Nancy the Ninja is standing before a giant wall with the character 难 "DIFFICULT" 🧗♀️ painted on it. Holding her trusty nunchucks, she scales the mountain of obstacles, each step revealing a different challenge: one icy and slippery, the other hot and fiery. Despite the 难 wall, Nancy knows every climb is a chance to conquer her fears.
Frequently asked questions
How to say difficult in Mandarin?
"difficult" in Chinese is 难 (nán).
难 meaning
难 (nán) means "Difficult".
Difficult in Chinese pinyin
It is pronounced nán (written as nan). You can listen to the pronunciation on this page.
How do you write "difficult" in Chinese characters?
It is written 难 and has 10 strokes. The Writing section above animates the stroke order and lets you trace it.
What HSK level is 难?
难 belongs to the HSK 3 vocabulary list.
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Grammar with 难
那么 vs 这么 — that vs this
那么 (nàme)/这么 (zhème) + Adj.
难 — hard to do
难 (nán) + Verb
难道 — rhetorical question “isn’t it…?”
难道 (nándào) + Statement + 吗 (ma)?
无论 — no matter what
无论 (wúlùn) / 不论 (bùlùn)⋯⋯，都 (dōu) / 也 (yě)⋯⋯
难道 — rhetorical question “don’t you…”
难道 (nándào)⋯⋯？
难怪 — no wonder
Reason，怪不得 (guàibude) / 难怪 (nánguài) + Observation