An insertion of 好 in the sentence

[novemberfog]

I was reading one of the folk stories in my Chinese reader and came across the following construction:

一连下了好几天雨，。。。

I think I would translate it as "It rained for many days on end", but I don't understand why 好 was inserted into the sentence. Does it server a grammatical purpose? And does it change the meaning of the translation?

Also, would the following mean the same thing?

一连几天下雨了，。。。

[gougou]

好 here corresponds to the English "so" (as in: it rained for soooo many days). It is frequently used with 几, but you can also find it with other adjectives, e.g. "她好漂亮！" In this case, it is pretty much used the same way as 很, but stronger in meaning ("She's so beautiful“, as opposed to “She's beautiful").

[skylee]

It helps emphasise the quantity/extent of the noun. In the sentence you quoted, it implies that the writer thinks that the duration of rainy days is too long. If you drop it, the emphasis is gone.

Other examples -

我見了好幾十個申請人，還沒有找到一個合適的。

他爸爸欠下人家好幾百萬，還不了，得申請破產。

PS - Take a look -> http://hk.iciba.com/search?s=%E5%A5%BD

好

hǎo

〈副〉

很,甚,太 [very]——表示程度,多含感歎語氣。如:好大的眼睛;好深的溝;好喬(十分古怪);好殺(極言其好);好是(真是,很是)

用在數量詞、時間詞前面,表示多或久。 如:等了好半天;來了好多人;過了好久;好歇(好一會兒);好幾時(很長時間);好早晚(時候很晚)

用在某些動詞前面,表示效果好 [good]。如:好看;好聽;好吃

[muddy]

The two sentences are the same.But the first emphasize the days of rainy and show a feeling of it is too long.The second is just a statement without any feelings.

[889]

Compare the English:

"It rained continuously for many days."

"It rained continuously for a good many days."