好/難+Vgrammar point · tier 2 · easy/hard to V (好/難 + verb)
Rates how easy or hard the action is to carry out: 好 in front of the verb says easy, 難 says hard.
字源 FORM what the parts do
好 and 難 take the two poles of the slot before the verb. 好 (女 + 子, a woman and child) marks the doing as easy. 難 borrows its sound for what is hard; the bird sense (隹) is gone, so it brings only the hard pole, not a picture. Whichever sits in front rates the verb.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A verb walks toward a gate. 好 swings the gate wide and the verb passes through; 難 jams it shut and the verb stalls against it.
字源自撰記憶法
框 · Frame
[thing] 很 好/難 [verb]
觸 · Trigger
You want to say a thing is easy or hard to do, not whether you managed it once.
序 · The move
1put the thing acted on at the front (it is the topic, not the doer)is this the object of the verb, standing as subject?
2pick the pole: 好 for easy, 難 for hardeasy doing or hard doing?
3set 很 好/難 directly in front of the verbdoes 好/難 touch the verb, with no object after it?
例 · Examples
1這個字this character很難寫very hard to write。三明治sandwich很好做very easy to make。
This character is hard to write. Sandwiches are easy to make.
好/難+V rates the doing in general (easy or hard to do); V得/不+result says whether one attempt reaches its outcome (can or can't). 字很難寫 = hard to write; 字寫不好 = this writing of it did not come out well.
好/難+V sits before the verb and forecasts the difficulty; 得 sits after and reports how it actually turned out (寫得很好 = wrote it well).
doer as subject: 我很難寫這個字 → 這個字很難寫
object trailing the verb: 很好做三明治 → 三明治很好做
complement word order: 這個字寫很難 → 這個字很難寫
English 'hard to write' lets the verb keep its object ('hard to write this character'); Chinese fronts the object as topic and bars an object after 好/難+V.