Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā cónglái bù chī hěn là de cài, juéde duì dùzi bù hǎo. - She never eats very spicy food and feels it’s not good for her stomach.

不吃辣的菜 – “doesn’t eat spicy dishes” (could be about now, or a specific situation)
从来不吃辣的菜 – “(she) never eats spicy dishes” (stronger, about long‑term habit)

Also related:

从来没吃过很辣的菜。
→ “(She) has never eaten very spicy dishes (before).”
This talks about experience (has never done it even once), while 从来不 talks about a habitual rule (“she just doesn’t do that”).

Why is 很 (hěn) used before 辣 (là) here? Could we just say 不吃辣的菜?

You can say:

她从来不吃辣的菜。

That’s perfectly correct and common.

Using 很辣的菜 adds a nuance:

辣的菜 – spicy dishes in general
很辣的菜 – very spicy dishes (high level of spiciness)

So:

她从来不吃辣的菜
→ She never eats spicy dishes at all.
她从来不吃很辣的菜
→ She never eats very spicy dishes (maybe she can handle mild spice).

Here 很 is a degree adverb modifying 辣, just like “very” in English.

What is the role of 的 (de) in 很辣的菜? Why not just 很辣菜?

的 here turns 很辣 (“very spicy”) into an attributive phrase describing 菜 (“dish(es)/food”).

Structure: 很辣 + 的 + 菜
= “dishes that are very spicy”

In Chinese, when an adjective (or adjective phrase) directly modifies a noun, it usually needs 的:

贵的衣服 – expensive clothes
好吃的菜 – tasty dishes
很辣的菜 – very spicy dishes

You cannot say 很辣菜 in this position; that sounds ungrammatical.
(Without 的, 很辣 would normally be used as a predicate: 菜很辣 – “The dish is very spicy.”)

What exactly does 菜 (cài) mean here? Is it “vegetables” or “food/dishes”?

In this sentence, 菜 means “dishes / cooked food”, not just vegetables.

Common meanings of 菜:

Dish / course (in a meal)
- 这道菜很辣。 – This dish is very spicy.
Vegetables (especially in some contexts or compounds)
- 买菜 – buy groceries (often vegetables etc.)
Cuisine (in compounds)
- 川菜 – Sichuan cuisine

Here, 辣的菜 means “spicy dishes” in general, not specifically spicy vegetables.

How is 觉得 (juéde) used here? Does it mean “feel” or “think”?

觉得 can mean both “feel” and “think”, depending on context.
A good default translation is “to feel that / to think that”.

觉得 + clause = “(subject) feels/thinks that …”

In this sentence:

（她）觉得对肚子不好。
→ “(She) feels/thinks it’s not good for the stomach.”

The subject 她 is understood from the previous clause and is typically dropped in Chinese when it’s clear from context.

So you can imagine the full form as:

她觉得（吃很辣的菜）对肚子不好。
→ She thinks (eating very spicy dishes) is not good for the stomach.

What does 对 (duì) mean in 对肚子不好? How does this pattern work?

Here 对 functions like “to / for / toward” indicating the target or affected object.

Common pattern:

对 + something + 好 / 不好 / 有好处 / 有坏处 / 有影响 …

Examples:

对身体好 – good for the body
对眼睛不好 – bad for the eyes
对学习有帮助 – helpful for studying

In this sentence:

对肚子不好
→ “not good for the stomach”

So the structure is:

[something] 对 [affected part] 好/不好

And the omitted “something” here is 吃很辣的菜 (“eating very spicy dishes”).

What exactly is 肚子 (dùzi)? Is it the same as 胃 (wèi)?

肚子 literally means “belly / tummy / stomach area” and is more colloquial.

肚子疼 – my stomach/belly hurts
肚子饿了 – I’m hungry (literally “belly is hungry”)

胃 is more specifically the stomach organ, a bit more anatomical or formal:

胃病 – stomach disease
胃不好 – (one’s) stomach is not good / has problems

In everyday speech, when talking casually about food being “bad for your stomach”, 肚子 is very natural:

对肚子不好 – bad for your tummy / stomach

You could also say:

对胃不好 – bad for the stomach (slightly more medical/formal tone).

Why is the subject 她 missing in the second part 觉得对肚子不好?

Chinese often drops the subject when it’s obvious from context.

Full version (with all details):

她从来不吃很辣的菜，（因为她）觉得（那样）对肚子不好。

But Chinese prefers to omit repeated information:

The subject 她 is clearly the same as in the first clause.
（吃很辣的菜 / 那样做） is also understood and omitted.

So the natural, concise sentence is:

她从来不吃很辣的菜，觉得对肚子不好。

This is very typical Chinese: once a subject is established, it doesn’t need to be repeated in immediately following clauses if the meaning is clear.

Does 不好 (bù hǎo) here mean “really bad”, or more like “not so good / not good for you”?

In this pattern, 不好 is often best understood as “not good (for …)”, which can be mild rather than extremely negative.

对肚子不好 – not good for the stomach / not great for your stomach

Depending on tone and context, it can feel like:

Mild: “not very good / not so good”
Strong: “bad / harmful”

If you want to soften it explicitly, you can say:

对肚子不太好 – not too good for the stomach (softer)
对肚子有点儿不好 – a bit bad for the stomach

In the given sentence, it’s a general health concern: spicy food is “not good for the stomach.”

Could we change the word order, like putting the reason first? For example, how else could we say this naturally?

Yes, Chinese allows flexible word order as long as the logical relationships are clear. Some natural variations:

Reason first, then result:
- 她觉得很辣的菜对肚子不好，所以从来不吃。
  → She thinks very spicy dishes are bad for the stomach, so she never eats them.
Explicitly adding 因为/所以:
- 因为她觉得很辣的菜对肚子不好，所以从来不吃。
  → Because she thinks very spicy dishes are bad for the stomach, she never eats them.
Merging things more tightly:
- 她觉得很辣的菜对肚子不好，所以从来不吃很辣的菜。

All of these are grammatical and natural; the original version is simply a concise way to say:

She never eats very spicy dishes, (because she) thinks they’re not good for the stomach.