Difference between revisions of "Negative adjectives with "-si le""
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| − | We might say things in English like "you scared me to death!". In Chinese, you can say a lot of things "to death" to negatively intensify what you want to say. | + | We might say things in English like "you scared me to death!". In Chinese, you can say a lot of things "to death" to negatively intensify what you want to say. The opposite is to use [[Positive adjectives with "-ji le"]]. |
== Structure == | == Structure == | ||
Revision as of 01:29, 7 March 2013
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We might say things in English like "you scared me to death!". In Chinese, you can say a lot of things "to death" to negatively intensify what you want to say. The opposite is to use Positive adjectives with "-ji le".
Structure
One way to intensify negative adjectives is to put 死了 (sǐle) after them. This is very similar to the phrase "to death" in English.
Subject + Negative adjective + 死了
Note that this structure is a degree complement (called 程度补语 in Chinese).
Examples
- 我 饿 死了。
- 他 难看 死了。
- 你 胖 死了！
None of these sentences involves someone actually dying. As with "to death" in English, this structure simply intensifies the adjective. Notice how these are awkward to translate into English - 死了 is a lot more versatile than "to death".
