What you will be able to do
- Build a comparison on the frame A 比 B + adjective, and keep 很 out of it.
- Add the size of the difference at the end: 高一点儿, 高多了, 大两岁.
- Negate with 没有 rather than 不比, and reserve 不比 for contradicting someone.
- Say that two things are the same with 跟…一样.
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
: the shape of a comparison
The frame
A + + B + adjective
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ gāo. — He is taller than me.
- 。 Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng.
- 。 Zhège bǐ nàge guì.
Look at what is not there. No separate word for than: sits between the two things and does that job. No change to the adjective — is whether it is tall or taller. And no verb to be, because the adjective is already the predicate.
is banned
This is the single most common mistake in the pattern.
- ✗ 。
- ✓ 。
Remember what is for. An adjective standing alone needs something to lean on, which is why is the normal way to say he is tall. In a sentence the comparison itself does that work, so has nothing left to do — and its presence is an error, not merely redundant. and are excluded for the same reason.
Saying by how much
The measure of the difference goes at the end, after the adjective. This is the position English keeps at the front, so the reordering has to be practised.
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ gāo yìdiǎnr. — a little taller.
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ gāo de duō. — much taller. says the same thing.
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ dà liǎng suì. — two years older.
- 。 Zhège bǐ nàge guì shí kuài. — ten yuan more.
Note that age uses and , not and : means he is older than me.
is the one degree word allowed
gèng means even more, and it is admitted where is not:
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ gèng gāo.
The difference is real. simply reports that he is the taller of the two. implies that I am tall as well, and that he is taller still.
The negative is not
To say not as … as, use A + + B + adjective:
- 。 Wǒ méiyǒu tā gāo. — I am not as tall as he is.
- 。 Jīntiān méiyǒu zuótiān lěng.
- 。 Wǒ méiyǒu tā nàme gāo. — nàme adds that tall.
does exist, but it is not the ordinary negative. It contradicts a claim: means I am not taller than him — whatever you may have assumed. Use it to push back on something that has just been said, and use for everything else.
Saying two things are the same
A + + B + + adjective:
- 。 Zhège gēn nàge yíyàng guì. — This one costs the same as that one.
- 。 Wǒ gēn tā yíyàng dà. — We are the same age.
yíyàng is the same; is fourth tone, so becomes yí. The adjective may be dropped when the sense is simply alike: 。 The negative is : 。
Comparing how you do something
When the comparison is about an action rather than a thing, the adjective attaches to the verb with and keeps its place:
- 。 Wǒ bǐ tā chī de duō. — I eat more than he does.
- 。 Tā bǐ wǒ lái de zǎo. — He arrives earlier than I do.
The frame has not changed; only the predicate has grown a tail.
How to work through it
What a comparison does withoutread
Read the frame and the ban on 很 together, twice. Then say 他很高 and 他比我高 one after the other and notice that the second sentence lost a word rather than gaining one.
Adjectives worth comparingvocabulary
Six adjectives, chosen because each has a natural opposite you can build a second comparison from. 大 and 小 also carry age between people, which is why 他比我大 is about years and not about size.
Add the difference at the endsentence
Take 他比我高 and extend it four ways: 一点儿, 得多, 多了, 两公分. Then do the same with 这个比那个贵 and with 今天比昨天冷. The tail always attaches after the adjective, never before it.
比, 没有, 一样quiz
Twelve items. Four judge whether a 比 sentence is well formed, four turn a positive comparison into its 没有 negative, and four decide between 很, 更 and nothing at all in front of the adjective.
Compare two of everythingspeaking
Six rounds, one sentence each: two cities, two days, two dishes, two prices, two people you know, two languages. Say one comparison with 比, one with 没有 and one with 跟…一样, then check that no 很 slipped in anywhere.