Negative adjectives with "-si le"

We might say things in English like "you scared me to death!". One way to intensify negative adjectives is to put 死了 (sǐle), "to die", after them. To express the opposite you would use 极了 (jíle).

Structure

The "Subject" part below is actually optional; you can also make your over-the-top exclamations without it.

Subject + Negative adjective + 死了

Note that this structure is a degree complement (called 程度补语 (chéngdù bǔyǔ) in Chinese).

Examples

• 我 饿 死了。It could be read as 'hungry to death' Wǒ è sǐle .I'm so/terribly hungry!
• 他 难看 死了。It could be read as 'ugly to death' Tā nánkàn sǐle .He's so/terribly ugly!
• 你 胖 死了！It could be read as 'fat to death' Nǐ pàng sǐle !You're so/terribly fat!
• 热 死了！It could be read as 'hot to death' Rè sǐle !It's so/terribly hot!
• 这里 的 东西 贵 死了。It could be read as 'expensive to death' Zhèlǐ de dōngxī guì sǐle .The things here are so/terribly expensive!
• 冷 死了。It could be read as 'cold to death' Lěng sǐle .It's so/terribly cold!
• 今天 累 死了。It could be read as 'tired to death' Jīntiān lèi sǐle .I'm so/terribly tired today!
• 我 快 忙 死了。It could be read as 'busy to death'Wǒ kuài máng sǐle . I'm so/terribly busy!
• 急 死了。It could be read as 'anxious to death'Jí sǐle . I'm so/terribly anxious!
• 你 慢 死了。It could be read as 'slow to death' Nǐ màn sǐle .You're so/terribly slow!

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 (sǐle) 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) (p. 104) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (p. 139) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (p. 105) →buy
• Yufa! (p. 106) →buy