wǒ juéde zǎo shuìjiào shì yí gè hǎo xíguàn.

I think going to bed early is a good habit.

Breakdown of wǒ juéde zǎo shuìjiào shì yí gè hǎo xíguàn.

• 我wǒ: I
• 是shì: to be
• 好hǎo: good
• 个gè: noun classifier

Questions & Answers about wǒ juéde zǎo shuìjiào shì yí gè hǎo xíguàn.

What exactly does 觉得 (juéde) mean, and how is it different from 想 (xiǎng) or 认为 (rènwéi)?

觉得 mainly means “to feel / to think” in the sense of giving your personal opinion or feeling about something.

• 我觉得早睡觉是一个好习惯。
  = I feel / think that going to bed early is a good habit.

Differences:

• 想 (xiǎng)

  1. to want to: 我想睡觉。= I want to sleep.
  2. to think / to consider: 你怎么想？= What do you think?
     It’s broader and often implies considering or wanting.

• 认为 (rènwéi)
  More formal, often used for more serious or logical judgments:
  我认为这个办法很好。= I consider this method good.

In everyday speech about personal feelings/opinions, 觉得 is the most common.

Why is there no word for “that” in “I think that going to bed early is a good habit”? Where would “that” go?

Chinese usually does not use a word like English “that” to introduce a clause.

The pattern is simply:

• 我觉得 + [a full sentence]

So in:

• 我觉得 早睡觉是一个好习惯。

the part 早睡觉是一个好习惯 is just a full sentence functioning as the object of 觉得, without any extra “that” word.

There is a word “that” in Chinese (“那” / “那个” etc.), but it’s mainly demonstrative (“that one”), not a conjunction introducing clauses in this way.

In 早睡觉, what does 早 (zǎo) do exactly, and why is it before 睡觉 (shuìjiào)?