Negative adjectives with "-si le"
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Level
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Similar to
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Used for
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Keywords
In English, you might use or hear the expression "you scared me to death!" In Chinese, 死了 (sǐle) is used similarly to intensify an adjective with an unpleasant connotation.
Structure
The "Subject" part below is actually optional, you can still make your over-the-top exclamations without it.
Subj. + [Negative Adj.] + 死了
This structure is technically a kind of degree complement.
Examples
- 我 饿 死了。(Literally, "hungry to death") I'm starving!
- 今天 累 死了。(Literally, "tired to death") Today was so exhausting!
- 热 死了！(Literally, "hot to death") It's ridiculously hot!
- 这 几 天 忙 死了。(Literally, "busy to death") It's been so terribly busy these days!
- 这 件 衣服 丑 死了。(Literally, "ugly to death") This piece of clothing is totally hideous!
- 你 的 房间 脏 死了。(Literally, "dirty to death") Your room is absolutely filthy!
- 吵 死了！(Literally, "noisy to death") It's so terribly noisy!
- 这里 的 东西 贵 死了。(Literally, "expensive to death") The things here are criminally expensive!
- 我们 都 急 死了。(Literally, "anxious to death") We are all so terribly anxious!
- 这 个 小孩 烦 死了。(Literally, "annoying to death") This kid is so freaking annoying!
None of these sentences actually refer to someone dying, instead the word 死了 (sǐle) and the structure is simply used to intensify an adjective. Notice how these are awkward to translate into English; the translations above took a number of different angles to create the same impact as -死了 (sǐle) does in Chinese. You might say that -死了 (sǐle) is much more versatile in Chinese than the English expression "to death."
See also
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
