Basic comparisons with "meiyou"
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In Chinese, there is another way to make comparisons. You can use 没有(méiyǒu) to express that something is "not as" as something else.
Basic pattern
As well as with 比 (bǐ), you can also use 没有 (méiyǒu) to make basic comparisons. You could think of 没有 (méiyǒu) as the opposite of 比 (bǐ) - it works in the same way, but rather than expressing "more... than..." it expresses "not as... as...":
Noun 1 + 没有 + Noun 2 + Adj.
In this structure, the noun that's placed first is less "adjective" than the second noun (hence 没有 (méiyǒu) being like 比 (bǐ) in reverse). So in the sentence:
- 小张 没有 小李 高 。 Xiao Zhang is not as tall as Xiao Li.
小李 (Xiǎo Lǐ) is taller. The same situation could be described as:
- 小李 没有 小张 矮 。 Xiao Li is not as short as Xiao Zhang.
Examples
- 上海 没有 北京 冷 。 Shanghai is not as cold as Beijing.
- 火车 没有 飞机 快 。 Trains are not as fast as airplanes. (This car does not have the speed of that other car.)
- 他 没有 他弟弟 聪明 。 He's not as clever as his younger brother.
- Obama 没有 Clinton 帅。 Obama is not as handsome as Clinton.
- 马云 没有 Bill Gates 有钱。 Jack Ma is not as rich as Bill Gates.
- 你们 公司 没有 我们公司 大。 Your company is not as big as ours.
- 学 英文 没有 学 中文 难 。 Studying Chinese is not easier than studying English.
- 坐 公交车 没有 坐地铁 方便 。 Taking the bus is not as convenient as taking the metro.
- 小米 手机 没有 iPhone 贵。 Xiaomi phone is not as expensive as iPhone.
- 爸爸 做的 菜 没有 妈妈 做的菜 好吃。 The food dad cooks is not as tasty as those mom cooks.
- 拼音 没有 汉字 那么 复杂。 Pinyin is not as complicated as Chinese characters.
See also
Sources and further reading
Books
- Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 69- 71) →buy
- Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 54-5) →buy
- New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (pp. 33-4) →buy
