Adjectives
Adjectives are used to describe the condition of a person, thing, behavior, etc. Typical examples include: 大, 小, 多, 少, 认真, 漂亮, 冰冷, 雪白.
Chinese adjectives can be classified as general adjectives or as non-predicate adjectives. General adjectives can not only serve as a sentence predicate, but also as an attributive, an adverbial, or a complement. Most adjectives are of the "general" variety.
Examples of general adjectives in action:
Sample Sentences:
- 她真漂亮。 She is really pretty. (predicate)
- 你的新房子很好。 Your new apartment is very nice. (attributive)
- 他轻轻地走进房间里。 He quietly walked into the room. (adverbial)
- 这里扫得不干净。 It wasn’t swept clean here. (adverbial)
General adjectives have the following grammatical features:
- Most can be modified by degree adverbs.
- The negative is formed by adding adverb of negation 不 in front of them.
- Can form questions using the "A 不 A" pattern.
- Some can reduplicate, indicating increased intensity.
- The vast majority cannot take an object when functioning as a predicate.
