Adjectives
Mandarin adjectives are really stative verbs — 忙 máng means "to-be-busy", not just "busy". So they need no "to be", never agree with anything, and negate like verbs.
No 是, and the mysterious 很
| English | Mandarin | literally |
|---|---|---|
| "She is busy" | 她很忙 tā hěn máng | "she HEN busy" |
| "This is expensive" | 这个很贵 zhège hěn guì | "this HEN expensive" |
| "I'm tired" | 我很累 wǒ hěn lèi | "I HEN tired" |
Two rules in one:
- No 是 before adjectives — 她是忙 ✗.
- A lone adjective sounds incomplete, so 很 hěn fills the slot. Here it does not really mean "very" — it's grammatical padding. To actually say "very", stress the 很 or use 非常 fēicháng: 非常好 fēicháng hǎo — "really good".
A bare adjective without 很 implies contrast: 这个贵 zhège guì suggests "this one's expensive (the other isn't)".
Negation is plain 不: 我不忙 wǒ bù máng — "I'm not busy".
Before a noun: add 的 de
| 好人 hǎo rén | "a good person" | single-syllable adjective: no 的 |
| 漂亮的裙子 piàoliang de qúnzi | "a pretty dress" | two syllables: 的 |
| 很贵的车 hěn guì de chē | "a very expensive car" | modified adjective: 的 |
Rule of thumb: short and simple sticks straight on; anything longer takes 的.
Comparison: 比 bǐ
No "-er", no "more". The frame is A 比 B + adjective:
他比我高 tā bǐ wǒ gāo — "he is taller than me" (lit. "he compare me tall") 今天比昨天冷 jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng — "today is colder than yesterday"
| add-on | example | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| …一点 yīdiǎn | 他比我高一点 | "a bit taller" |
| …得多 de duō | 他比我高得多 | "much taller" |
| 更 gèng (no B) | 这个更好 zhège gèng hǎo | "this one's even better" |
| 最 zuì (superlative) | 最好的朋友 zuì hǎo de péngyou | "best friend" |
No 很 inside a 比 sentence: 他比我很高 ✗. To negate, prefer 没有: 我没有他高 wǒ méiyǒu tā gāo — "I'm not as tall as him". And "A is as … as B" is A 跟 B 一样 + adj: 他跟我一样高 — "he's as tall as me".
Reduplication: turning up the vividness
Doubling an adjective makes it vivid, warm, or intense — common in speech:
| 高兴 gāoxìng → 高高兴兴 gāogāoxìngxìng | "happy as can be" | AABB for two syllables |
| 慢 màn → 慢慢(儿) mànmān(r) | "nice and slow" | 慢慢来 — "take your time" |
| 红 hóng → 红红的 hónghóng de | "nice and red" | doubled forms often take 的 |
Reduplicated adjectives never take 很 or 比 — they're already at full color.
The takeaway
No agreement, no gender/number endings, no "to be" to conjugate. The three habits: 很 instead of 是, 的 before nouns when the adjective gets long, and the 比-frame (with no 很) for comparing.
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