Chinese Adjectives
When learning the Chinese language, there are different dialects in which the pronunciation of a word can give it different meanings. The official dialect of China is Putonghua, which is based on the Mandarin dialect. Pinyin is the Latin-based alphabet that is used with this type of dialect. As this is the language that Chinese businessmen use, this is the dialect that we will be using here. The following is a list of Chinese adjectives with their Chinese spelling as well as their pronunciations. The first Chinese adjectives that we will deal with are the colors:
color yan se (“yahn suh”)
blue lan (“lahn”)
blue color lan se (“lahn suh”)
black color hei (“hay”)
black and white hei bai (“hay buy”)
green color lu se (“luu suh”)
orange color ju se (“juu suh”)
pink color fen hong se (“fin hoong suh”)
purple color zi se (“dzuh suh”)
red hong (“hoong”)
red color hong se (“hoong suh”)
white bai (“buy”)
yellow color huang se (“hwahng suh”)
These words can be useful to know if you are trying to describe something to your Chinese-speaking companions. There are also a number of Chinese adjectives that you can use to describe people. The following are just a few of these:
beautiful mei (“may”)
big, large da (“dah”)
brave ying (“eeng”)
bright ming (“meeng”)
clever, intelligent cong ming (“tsoong meeng”)
cute, lovely ke ai (“kuh eye”)
good looking hao kan (“how kahn”)
happy gao xing (“gow sheeng”)
healthy shen ti hao (“shun tee how”)
little shao (“shou”)
old jiu (“jeo”)
pretty piao liang (“pee-ow lee-ahng”)
quick, fast kuai (“kwie”)
short (as in people) ai (“eye”)
small xiao (“shee-ow”)
smart piao liang (“pee-ow lee-ahng”)
tall gao (“gow”)
tired lei (“lay”)
As you can see, some of these Chinese adjectives are used for several different English words. Chinese adjectives that are used to describe heat and cold include:
comfortable shu fu (“shuu fuu”)
comfortably cool liang kuai (“lee-ahng kwie”)
cold leng (“lung”)
too cold tai leng (“tie lung”)
hot re (“ruh”)
too hot tai re (“tie ruh”)
warm nuan huo (“nwahn hwaw”)
There are many other Chinese adjectives that you may find helpful in holding a conversation. The following are just a few of the more common ones:
cheap pian yi (“pee-in ee”)
correct, right dui or (“dway”)
delicious hao chi (“how chr”)
different bu yi yang (“buu ee yahng”)
expensive gui (“gway”)
free (as in money) bu yao qian (“buu yow tchee-in”)
long chang (“chahng”)
more hai (“high”)
narrow zhai (“jigh”)
new xin (“sneen”)
not bad, so-so bu cuo (“buu tswaw”)
really zhen (“jun”)
recently jin lai or (“jeen lie”)
same yi yang (“ee yahng”)
short (as in length) duan (“dwahn”)
true zhen de (“jun duh”)
untrue bu shi zhen de (“buu shr jun duh”)
used jiu (“jeo”)
very hen (“hin”)
wide kuan (“kwahn”)
wrong cuo (“tswaw”)
These Chinese adjectives can help you to be understood more easily when in the company of Chinese- speaking people. You may want to memorize the Chinese adjectives for colors first, as these are the ones that you may be using more often. For example, if you are talking about a blue folder in an office, you can say “lahn” and point to the document in question. The people in the room will be able to understand that the blue folder is the one that you are discussing. You will also need to make sure that you pronounce the words correctly, as a wrong pronunciation can mean another word entirely.
Chinese can be one of the hardest languages to learn. Memorizing one word at a time will help you notice patterns in sounds and spellings and can go a long way towards helping you to fully speak and understand Chinese.