comparisons

jim_parker

April 29, 2015, 03:27 PM posted in Grammar Questions

I posted this question to the comment thread on a Qing Wen that discusses using "比" (bi3) to make comparisons, but looking at the comment history there, it appears that no one is monitoring it.  :-(

So, I'm "reduplicating" the question here:

The Qing Wen I found talks about making comparisons between 2 people like this:

我比你很快（wo bi ni hen kuai)

loosely translated as "I am faster than you".  I forget now whether the Qing Wen mentions this, but my grammar books say that I can add to this construction like this:

我比你跑得快 （wo bi ni pao de kuai)

to say that "I RUN faster than you"

which seem to be a rather straightforward extension of

我跑得快 (wo pao de kuai)

in which I say that "I run fast".

My question (finally!) is: how do I say that "I RAN faster than you" (a particular instance) ?

The same grammar books that told me how to say that I run fast (as a general statement) also tell me that if I want to say that "I RAN fast" (a particular instance), I do this:

我快地跑了 (wo kuai de pao le)

So, I notice that the general statement (我跑得快) seems to be using the adjective as a predicate, so I seem to be saying that I am fast, and the "跑得" seems to be modifying the "fast".  And all the books tell me how to "extend" this construct to make comparisons.

However, the "particular instance" statement (我快地跑了) seems to be fundamentally different in that I am saying that "I run", and the "快地" seems to be modifying "run". Even the "de" particle is different.  So, I don't know how to "extend" this construct to comparisons like the one I want to make:  "I RAN faster than you".