Difference between revisions of "Negative adjectives with "-si le""
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* [[Degree complement]] | * [[Degree complement]] | ||
* [[Adjectival complement "de_hen"]] | * [[Adjectival complement "de_hen"]] | ||
| − | * [[ | + | * [[Positive adjectives with "-ji_le"]] |
== Sources and further reading == | == Sources and further reading == | ||
Revision as of 03:15, 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 (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".
