Negative adjectives with "-si le"

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. To express the opposite you would use 极了.

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".

See also

• Degree complement
• Adjectival complement "de_hen"
• Positive adjectives with "-ji_le"

Sources and further reading

Books

• New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (新实用汉语课本4) (pp. 104) →buy