Adjectives with "-ji le"

Just as 死了 (sǐle) can be used to intensify negative adjectives, 极了 (jíle) can be used to intensify positive adjectives. This is used in spoken, colloquial Chinese. 极 means "extreme" or "utmost", so using this grammar pattern takes your positive adjectives to the extreme!

Structure

It's as simple as using 极了 after the positive adjective.

Subject + Positive adjective + 极了

Note that this structure is a degree complement (called 程度补语 in Chinese)， and one of the few that you can use after the adjective and without adding a 得.

Examples

• 她 好看 极了。Tā hǎokàn jíle.She is very pretty.
• 这 个 啤酒 好喝 极了。Zhè gè píjiǔ hǎohē jíle.This beer is very tasty.
• 你的 中文 好 极了。Nǐ de Zhōngwén hǎo jíle.Your Chinese is very good!

Remember to add the 了, since this is sort of an exclamatory statement similar to 太好了. It would be incorrect without it.

• 今天 我 的 精神 好 极。Jīntiān wǒ de jīngshén hǎo jí.
• 今天 我 的 精神 好 极了。Jīntiān wǒ de jīngshén hǎo jíle.

See also

• Negative adjectives with "-si le"
• Adjectives with "name" and "zheme"
• Adjectival complement "de budeliao"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (1st ed) (pp. 8)
• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp. 348) →buy
• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 1 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 190) →buy
• 现代汉语八百词 (p. 286-287) →buy