Negative adjectives with "-si le"

In English, you might use or hear the expression "you scared me to death!" In Chinese, 死了 (sǐle) is used similarly to intensify a negative adjective.

Structure

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

Subj. + Negative adj. + 死了

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

Examples

• 热 死了！It could be read as 'hot to death' Rè sǐle!It's so/terribly hot!
• 冷 死了。It could be read as 'cold to death' Lěng sǐle.It's so/terribly cold!
• 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 慢 死了。It could be read as 'slow to death' Nǐ màn sǐle.You're so/terribly slow!
• 吵 死了！It could be read as 'noisy to death' Chǎo sǐle!It's so/terribly noisy!
• 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!
• 今天 累 死了。It could be read as 'tired to death' Jīntiān lèi sǐle.I'm so/terribly tired today!
• 我 忙 死了。It could be read as 'busy to death'Wǒ máng sǐle. I'm so/terribly busy!
• 我们 都 急 死了。It could be read as 'anxious to death'Wǒmen dōu jí sǐle. We are all so/terribly anxious!

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 - 死了 (sǐle) is much more versatile than the English expression "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