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 intensify what you want to say. | ||
== Structure == | == Structure == | ||
Revision as of 03:08, 19 February 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 intensify what you want to say.
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.
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".
