Turning adjectives into adverbs

You can easily convert Chinese adjectives into adverbs with 地 (de). This character is very similar to the English suffix -ly.

Structure

In Chinese, we place the structural particle 地 (de) after the adjective to make it an adverb.

Subject + Adjective + 地 + Verb

Examples

• 你 要 很 认真 地 学习。Nǐ yào hěn rènzhēn de xuéxí.You must study very seriously.
• 爷爷 慢慢 地 走路。Yéyé màn man de zǒulù.Grandpa walks slowly.
• 我们 舒服 地 躺 在 那里。Wǒmen shūfú de tǎng zài nàlǐ.We comfortably laid down here.
• 小 狗 大声 地 叫。 Xiǎo gǒu dàshēng de jiào.The dog barked loudly.
• 我 希 望 你 健健康康 地 长大。Wǒ xīwàng nǐ jiàn jiàn kāng kāng de zhǎng dà.I hope that you grow up healthy.

See also

• Structural particle "de"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 72) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 192) →buy