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

  • 饿 死了It could be read as 'hungry to death' è sǐle. I'm so/terribly hungry!
  • 今天 死了It could be read as 'tired to death' Jīntiān lèi sǐle. I'm so/terribly tired today!
  • 死了It could be read as 'hot to death' sǐle! It's so/terribly hot!
  • 这 几 天 死了It could be read as 'busy to death' Zhè jǐ tiān máng sǐle! It's been so/terribly busy these days!
  • 这 件 衣服 死了It could be read as 'ugly to death' Zhè gè yīfu chǒu sǐle! This piece of clothes is so/terribly ugly!
  • 你 的 房间 死了It could be read as 'dirty to death' Nǐ de fángjiān zāng sǐle! Your room is so/terribly dirty!
  • 死了It could be read as 'noisy to death' Chǎo sǐle! It's so/terribly noisy!
  • 这里 的 东西 死了It could be read as 'expensive to death' Zhèlǐ de dōngxī guì sǐle! The things here are so/terribly expensive!
  • 我们 都 死了It could be read as 'anxious to death'Wǒmen dōu sǐle! We are all so/terribly anxious!
  • 这 个 小孩 死了It could be read as 'annoying to death' Zhè gè xiǎohái fán sǐle! This kid so/terribly 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 - 死了 (sǐle) is much more versatile than the English expression "to death."

See also

Sources and further reading

Books