---
title: "好不容易 (hǎobù-róngyì) in Chinese Grammar: With great difficulty, With Examples"
description: "好不容易 (hǎobù-róngyì): with great difficulty; only after much effort. 好不容易(才) means it took a lot of effort (despite 不). 2 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/haoburongyi"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 好不容易 hǎobù-róngyì

With great difficulty; only after much effort

好不容易(才) means it took a lot of effort (despite 不).

## In stories

**好不容易**排到窗口，票却可能已经卖光了，只好托人帮忙，或者多花钱找“黄牛”。

[什么是春运？ · What is Chunyun, China’s Spring Festival travel rush?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/what-is-chunyun-chinese-new-year-travel-rush#library-word-452-456) HSK 6

道士说：“它也可怜，**好不容易**才找到替身，我不忍心伤它，赶走就是了。”

[画皮 · Painted Skin](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/painted-skin-chinese-ghost-story#library-word-498-502) HSK 7–9

[Read 什么是春运？](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/what-is-chunyun-chinese-new-year-travel-rush#library-word-452-456)

## More patterns

- [verb + 不/得 + result (potential) cannot / can (manage to) …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-bu-c)
- [再也 + 不/没 never again; not any more](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/zaiye-bu)
- [谁 + 也/都 + (V不C) no one / nothing: …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/shei-ye-neg-v)
- [verb + 不了/得了 cannot …; can …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-bu-liao)
- [一 + measure word (+ noun) + 也/都 + 不/没 not a single …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/yi-cl-ye-bu)
- [一点(儿) + 也/都 + 不/没 not … at all](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/yidian-ye-neg)

## What does 好不容易 (hǎobù-róngyì) mean in Chinese?

With great difficulty; only after much effort. 好不容易(才) means it took a lot of effort (despite 不).

## How common is 好不容易?

It comes up in 2 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.