Chinese adjectives
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Adjectives in Chinese (形容词 xíng róng cí ) are somewhat different from those in English in that they can be used as verbs (for example 天黑了 tiān hēi le "The sky has darkened") and thus linguists sometimes prefer to use the terms static or stative verb to describe them. In most dictionaries 形容词 (often abbreviated 形) is used to identify this part of speech.
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[edit] Before nouns
When describing a noun with an adjective composed of multiple characters, 的 de is used between the adjective and noun (for example 高兴的孩子 gāo xìng de hái zi "happy child"). It is not used with single-character adjectives (新车 xīn chē "new car"). Some examples:
[edit] After nouns
[edit] First pattern
When describing a subject with most adjectives in Chinese the verb "to be" is not required - in fact its use is grammatically incorrect (她漂亮 tā piào liang "she is beautiful" not *她是漂亮 *tā shì piào liang). These adjectives follow the simple pattern Noun + Adjective. In most cases an extra word (such as 很 hěn "very", 好 hǎo "highly", 真 zhēn "really", 非常 fēi cháng "extraordinarily") can be inserted between the noun and adjective to specify the adjective's intensity. For some speakers this is grammatically necessary. For example, the following express increasing intensities of the statement "she is beautiful":
她 漂 亮 。
She is beautiful.她 很 漂 亮 。
She is very beautiful.她 好 漂 亮 。
She is highly beautiful.她 真 漂 亮 。
She is really beautiful.她 非 常 漂 亮 。
She is extraordinarily beautiful.
Another pattern exists which expresses an intensity stronger than any of the above: Noun + Adjective + 极了 jí le.
[edit] Second pattern
Most adjectives fit the above pattern, but some do not. They are often things that describe mutually exclusive states of being, such as gender or color. These adjectives follow the pattern Noun + 是 shì + Adj + 的 de. For example:
