Negative adjectives with "-si le"

Revision as of 03:06, 19 June 2012 by Parry (talk | contribs) (Text replace - "Adding More Explanation" to "Adding more explanation")

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".

See also

Sources and further reading

Books