快乐，高兴，开心

[Strawberries513]

I was wondering what the difference between these three phrases were. I usually just use 快乐，so I am not sure when one is more appropriate than the other. Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on the uses of these.

-Christina

[skylee]

IMO 快樂 and 開心 are the same. To me the former is mostly used in writing, whereas the latter is used both in writing and daily conversation. 高興 is more formal and I usually use it to describe a group of people in high spirit.

[juniux]

I just registered...so this is gonna to be my first post here, hope can answer your question:

快乐 is the most formal one among the three. almost never used in conversation or oral expression.

高兴 is less formal and most frequently used in oral expression

开心 is also less formal and you can almost interchange between 开心 and 高兴. but it is not as frequently used as 高兴.

[9公主xx]

高兴 is quite informal actually.

[jinjin]

this i sjust my opinion, and can be wrong. I also suppose it changes region to region.

快乐is used more in sayings such as 生日快乐，新年快乐, etc.

you would use 高兴 as in phrases such as: 认识你很高兴，but you wouldn't really say 认识你很开心。 you can also say, 我很高兴， 小孩子玩得很高兴。 but people more often say 小孩子玩得很开心。 but then when you ask someone what happened that they are unhappy, you would say, 干什么，为什么不高兴了？ (very colloquial), but you wouldn't usually (but could) put 开心 in that sentence.

高兴to me just simply means happy.

开心 also means like a happy but implies a sort of action, maybe like a silly happiness. In fact, my chinese-english electronic dictionary created by a famous Chinese company translates 开心 as "yippee" (no joke).

this is just my personal opinion growing up in a mandarin speaking chinese household, so it's hard to put my finger on the differences, but there are some. Like when would you say "joy, happy, enjoyment, delight, etc." in English? they all roughly mean the same thing, but there is a difference when you say "I'm happy with my new clothes" versus "I'm delighted in my new clothes." the latter seems like a more exquisite happiness, or even a stronger happiness...

so in short 开心and 高兴are interchangable, but sometimes not. my two cents.

[WilsonFong]

Based on what I hear on Chinese TV and from my family, I'll have to agree with skylee. I don't hear 快樂 spoken very often unless it's to say "happy birthday". 高興 tends to be more of a group thing, meaning something like "joyous". I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that just to describe himself. 開心 is probably the most commonly used of the three. I think it simply means "happy".

[jinjin]

I think you can say an individual is 高兴。 I've heard many people say someone is 高兴 or 不高兴。 In fact, I was at my tailor's yesterday and he made a suggestion and I made a face, and he said 不高兴了? also, I think you say 不高兴 instead of 不开心 (or you can say another prhase like 心情不好.)

[Koneko]

This can be quite subjective but I think 快乐，高兴 and 开心 are quite common - less formal.

You can also use 飘飘然 or 兴奋 in a slang way.

K.

[heifeng]

if you are going to branch out into slang, can you use 屁颠?, as in 屁颠儿屁颠儿....

[Koneko]

if you are going to branch out into slang, can you use 屁颠?, as in 屁颠儿屁颠儿....

Is this popular in Beijing at the moment? I have never heard of it before?

I think the examples I quoted earlier are accepted in writting essays?!

K

[semantic nuance]

快樂, 高興, 開心 mean the same when you want to say things like 'I'm very happy.'.

我很快樂. 我很高興. 我很開心.

But when you want to say that someone is happy about something or feel happy about something. We usually use 高興 or 開心, not 快樂.

Examples:

我很開心/高興你這麼想. I'm happy that you think it that way.

你要來參加我的婚禮,我覺得很開心/高興. I feel happy that you're going to attend my wedding.

But it will be weird if you say 你要來參加我的婚禮,我覺得很快樂 and 我很快樂你這麼想.

Hope it helps!