Chinese Adjectives

Adjective is a big part in learning Chinese grammar. The most commonly-seen function of Chinese adjectives is to modify nouns. Particle 的 de is often used to connect the adjective and the noun. E.g.

měilì de ɡūniɑnɡ

美丽 的 姑娘

a beautiful girl

ɡānjìnɡ de chénɡshì

干净 的 城市

a clean city

的 is often omitted in the following situations

1. To reduce repetition: E.g. “我的家的猫” - wǒ de jiā de māo (the cat in my house) is often shortened to “我家的猫 – wǒ jiā de māo”, the first 的 is omitted to reduce repetition.

2. In some established adjective-noun compounds, to increase sentence flow: E.g The reality talent show “Voice of China” is called “中国好声音” - zhōnɡɡuó hǎo shēnɡyīn, instead of “中国的好声音”.

3. The noun is modified by a single-syllable adjective: E.g.

huài rén

坏人

bad people

kuài chē

快车

a fast car

Another thing we need to know about Chinese adjectives is that they must have adverbs preceding them. In Chinese, the most frequently used adverbs include “很” - hěn, “非常” - fēichánɡ and “真” - zhēn. Although these adverbs express an increasing degree of the adjectives they describe, they don’t necessarily have a very strong meaning “very”. For example, “她很漂亮” - tā hěn piào liɑnɡ is often understood and translated as "She is beautiful".

However, there is one exception when no adverbs are used before the adjectives. When used this way, the adjectives imply a comparison. E.g.

zhè běn shū hěn xīn.

这 本 书 很 新。

zhè běn shū xīn.

这 本 书 新。

In the first example, it is a statement that the book is new and there is no comparison implied. But the second example has an implied meaning that “this book is new, while the other one is old”.