還grammar point · tier 1 · moderating 還 (fairly / passably — good enough, on balance)
· hái
Sits before an evaluation to soften it to a passing grade: the thing is acceptable, good enough, better than its low billing — without being outright good.
Sits before an evaluation to soften it to a passing grade
框 · Frame
[subj] 還 [算/好/可以/不錯 + quality]
觸 · Trigger
You judge something acceptable against low expectations, granting it a pass rather than praise.
序 · The move
1Pick the evaluation you want to grade as merely passable, not glowing.Is the verdict mild — good enough, not great? 還 lowers the bar it clears.
2Drop 還 just before that verdict, ahead of 算 / 好 / 可以 / 不錯.還 leans on the judgement word, not on a quantity or a comparison.
3Leave the verdict positive but modest.No 比 in sight and no 更 — 還 grades one thing to 'okay', it does not rank it above another.
例 · Examples
1這組this set (of)沙發sofa的價格's price還fairly / passably (good enough)算counts as / can be reckoned便宜cheap。
The price of this sofa set is fairly cheap, all things considered.
界 · Boundary
比…還… (scalar 還, 還1)
還1 sits inside a 比 comparison and pushes A one step past an already-high B (比飲料還貴 = even more expensive). 還2 stands alone and pulls a lone verdict back to 'good enough' (還算便宜 = passably cheap). Escalation past a high mark vs moderation down to a pass.
還在睡 = still asleep, an action ongoing in time. 還算便宜 = passably cheap, a verdict graded mild. Time-continuation vs evaluation-moderation; the slot before a stative judgement signals the second.
這組沙發的價格很算便宜。 → 這組沙發的價格還算便宜。(use 還 before 算 for the qualified pass; 很 cannot grade 算)
這組沙發的價格比那組還算便宜。 → 這組沙發的價格還算便宜。(drop 比/那組 — 還2 grades one price 'good enough', it does not compare two)
這組沙發的價格還很便宜。 → 這組沙發的價格還算便宜 / 還不錯。(pair 還 with 算/不錯/可以 for the pass, not with the flat intensifier 很)
English 'fairly / pretty / quite' can lean either up ('pretty expensive') or toward a grudging pass ('pretty cheap, I guess'); learners map all of these to 很/挺 and lose the 'good enough, on balance' reading that 還 carries. 還 grants a pass against low expectation, not a degree.