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" adjective as something else. (Yes, that's the same 没有 (méiyǒu) that means "not have," used here in a different way.)
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, making 没有 (méiyǒu) the opposite of 比 (bǐ) for comparison purposes. 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
- 这 个 地方 没有 上海 好玩。 This place is not as fun as Shanghai.
- 火车 没有 飞机 快。 Trains are not as fast as airplanes.
- 他 没有 他弟弟 聪明。 He's not as smart 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.
- 拼音 没有 汉字 难。 Pinyin is not as difficult as Chinese characters.
- 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。 The Xiaomi phone is not as expensive as the iPhone.
- 爸爸 做的 菜 没有 妈妈 做的菜 好吃。 The food dad cooks is not as tasty as the food mom cooks.
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
