Expressing "excessively" with "tai"
The simplest structure for expressing too or too much in Chinese is:
太 + Adjective + 了
As in English, this can express that something really is excessive, or can colloquially express the meaning of so or very. You can easily form sentences with this structure:
Subject + 太 + Adjective + 了
Some examples:
| Subject | 太 | Adjective | 了 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 盒子 | 太 | 重 | 了 | 。 |
| 米饭 | 太 | 少 | 了 | 。 |
| 雪 | 太 | 大 | 了 | 。 |
| 你 | 太 | 好 | 了 | 。 |
| 他 | 太 | 高 | 了 | 。 |
| 小猫 | 太 | 可爱 | 了 | 。 |
By negating this structure, you can express the meaning of not so much or not very. Just put 不 in front of 太:
Subject + 不 + 太 + Adjective + 了
Some examples:
| Subject | 不 | 太 | Adjective | 了 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 我 | 不 | 太 | 高兴 | 了 | 。 |
| 他 | 不 | 太 | 好看 | 了 | 。 |
| 你 | 不 | 太 | 友好 | 了 | 。 |
See also
Sources and further reading
Books
- Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 200) →buy
- Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (pp. 180-1) →buy
