The tables
Why the pair is rated this way
The Rat and the Goat are one of the six harms (六害). The reason is in the tables: the Rat's harmony partner is the Ox, which the Goat clashes with, and the Goat's harmony partner is the Horse, which the Rat clashes with. Each one stands in the way of the other's closest bond.
The Goat is an earth sign and the Rat a water sign. In the controlling cycle earth dams water, so the Goat is read as the one who sets limits and the Rat as the one who pushes against them.
The Rat rules the winter month that starts around Dec 7 and the hours from 11 pm to 1 am; the Goat rules the summer month that starts around Jul 7 and the hours from 1 pm to 3 pm.
For comparison, the Rat's harmony partner is the Ox and its trine partners are the Monkey and the Dragon; the Goat's harmony partner is the Horse and its trine partners are the Pig and the Rabbit.
Reading
In love, friendship and work
Traditionally the Rat is quick-witted, resourceful and careful with money, and the Goat is artistic, kind and sensitive. The Rat tends to bring sharp planning and look for security; the Goat tends to bring care and creativity and look for reassurance.
In love, a harm pair is read as one where small slights pile up, so plain talk early tends to work better than quietly keeping score.
As friends or co-workers they tend to keep each other in check, which can sharpen the work as long as neither tries to run the other.
Years
Which years are these animals?
Rat years: 1948 (Earth Rat), 1960 (Metal Rat), 1972 (Water Rat), 1984 (Wood Rat), 1996 (Fire Rat), 2008 (Earth Rat), 2020 (Metal Rat).
Goat years: 1955 (Wood Goat), 1967 (Fire Goat), 1979 (Earth Goat), 1991 (Metal Goat), 2003 (Water Goat), 2015 (Wood Goat), 2027 (Fire Goat).
9 of the idols with a Bias Match idol page were born in Rat years.
16 of the idols with a Bias Match idol page were born in Goat years.
Your pair
Check two birth years
A zodiac year starts in late January or February, not on January 1: Chinese New Year calendars switch at Lunar New Year, and saju switches at Lichun, around February 4. If you were born in January or early February, you may belong to the year before.
Beyond the birth year
On Bias Match the animal that counts most is not the birth year but the day branch, the animal in each person's day pillar. If two people's day branches are Rat (子) and Goat (未), the compatibility calculator scores that check as zero, neither plus nor minus, next to five other checks.
The text is fixed sentence templates filled in with the classical relation tables built into the Bias Match engine; no AI model generates or rewrites it. For entertainment only: the zodiac describes old patterns, not what will happen between two people.