敢: dare to

Chinese grammar · HSK 4 · 敢 · By Carson 木林森

敢 is a modal meaning dare (to do) — used when an action requires courage or risk.

> 他敢一个人去。(He dares to go alone.)

Structure: Subject + 敢 + Verb phrase

Negation: 不敢 = don't dare
> 我不敢跟老板提这件事。(I don't dare bring this up with my boss.)

Question: 你敢不敢 + V? or 你敢吗?

Contrast with 能/可以: those express ability or permission; 敢 expresses willingness-under-risk. A shy person 能说 (can speak) but 不敢说 (doesn't dare say it).

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
你敢一个人住在这里吗？	Nǐ gǎn yī gè rén zhù zài zhèlǐ ma?	Do you dare to live here alone?	Basic 敢 question: courage required for the action
我不敢在很多人面前讲话。	Wǒ bù gǎn zài hěn duō rén miànqián jiǎnghuà.	I don't dare speak in front of many people.	不敢 = no courage to perform the action
他连老师都敢顶嘴，真的很大胆。	Tā lián lǎoshī dōu gǎn dǐngzuǐ, zhēn de hěn dǎdǎn.	He even dares to talk back to the teacher — truly bold.	连…都敢 intensifies: even in an extreme case he dares

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills 敢 across 12 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.

Modal Verbs

敢 is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

Start at your true level