Reduplication of adjectives

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One of the charming features of Chinese is reduplication of certain words and characters, including adjectives!

Basic patterns

One way to intensify adjectives is to reduplicate them. This creates a sense of "really" or "very", and makes the descriptive power of the adjective stronger.

Adj + Adj + 的

In most Chinese textbooks and grammar books, this is known as the "AA" pattern. For example:

  • 妈妈的手 暖暖的。Mother's hands are very warm.
  • 你的 脸 红红的。Your face is very red.
  • 果汁 甜甜的。The fruit juice is very sweet.

If the adjective has more than one character, then you should repeat each character individually. This is known as the "AABB" pattern. Examples:

  • 高高兴兴very happy
  • 舒舒服服very comfortable
  • 辛辛苦苦very hard

Comparing AABB with ABAB

When the adjectives need to be the adverbs to modify the verbs,you can repeat them as the AABB pattern.If you meed the adjectives as the predicates,then they can go with ABAB.It's just like A+B+一下。

A B A B + 地 + Verb

Subject + verb + A B A B

Subject + verb + A B + 一下

Examples

  • 过年的时候，我们全家人都聚在一起，热热闹闹地吃年夜饭。Our family spend every New Year Eve having a reunion dinner very happily.
  • 结婚的时候，人们喜欢放鞭炮来热闹热闹。People prefer to set off the fireworks to celebrate when they get married.
  • 妹妹快过生日了，我打算给她办一个生日派对，热闹一下。My little sister's birthday is coming and I'm going to celebrate it by throwing her a birthday party.

Note: The "AABB" pattern for reduplication of two-syllable adjectives contrasts with the "ABAB" pattern for reduplication of two-syllable verbs.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

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