Adjectives in Mandarin Chinese
From UniLang Wiki
Adjectives in Chinese are placed in a construction with the Determiner Particle 的 (de). The determinator (the adjective) appears in front of the particle and that what is to be determined appears behind it:
- 旧的大学 (jiù de dàxué) - Literal: old [DP] university - (the/an) old university
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Comparation
Analog to English grammar it is also possible to compare nouns wrt. an adjective. This is done with the particle 比, where the particle occurs between the nouns compared and the adjective occurs after the second noun. It may optionally be preceded by 还 or 更 which emphasize the difference. Never use modifiers such as 很, 真 or (非)常:
- 中国比德国更大 (zhong1ghuo2 bi3 de2guo2 geng da) - lit: China [cmp] Germany change big - China is even bigger than Germany.
- 数学比物理学有意思 (shuxue bi3 wulixue you3yisi) - lit: math [cmp] physics has meaning - Math is more interesting than physics.
- 我比你还高 (wo3 bi3 ni3 hai gao1) - lit: I [cmp] you also big - I am even bigger than you.
If you compare nouns with modifiers you can omit the second mentioning of the noun, like in
- 她的车比我的新 (ta1 de che1 bi3 wo3 de xin) - lit: her car [cmp] my new - Her car is newer than mine.
negating the comparison
Beside changing the order of the nouns or negating the adjective you can also negate the comparison replacing 比 with 没有 or 不比. You can insert 那么 or 这么 to point out the speaker's opinion:
- 她不比你笨 (ta bubi3 ni3 ben) - lit: she not[cmp] you stupid - She is no more stupid than you.
- 我的中文 没有 她的 那么 好 (wo3de zhong1wen meiyou3 ta1de name hao3) - lit: my Chinese hasn't her this good - My Chinese is not as good as hers.
- 她不比我更旧 (ta1 bubi3 wo3 geng jiu4) - lit: she not[cmp] I change old - She is not much older than me.
specifying the difference =
If you wish to mention the difference between the nouns you can put it behind the adjective:
- 她比你高 十公分 (tā bǐ nǐ gāo shí gōng fēn) - lit: she [cmp] you big 10cm - She is 10cm bigger than you.
Superlative
To express that a thing is the most wrt an adjective use the adverb 最 before the adjective. Note that here the biding particle 的 is necessary before the noun:
- 最贵的表 (zui4 gui de biao) - the most expensive watch.
- 最好的地方 (zui4 hao3 de di fang) - the best place/ location.
- 最快的火车 (zui4kuai de huo che1) - the fastest train.
References
- some explanation and examples were taken from [Chinese Grammar] (in German), chapter [Comparison]
