Mandarin adjectives are placed after the noun they describe. All Mandarin adjectives implicitly include “to be,” so instead of saying, “He is tall,” simply say “He tall.”
Positive Mandarin adjectives usually need an adverb. If no other adverb is used, the positive adjective is preceded with (hěn), which means “very”. In this situation, though, hěn does not necessarily carry any meaning, so “Tā hěn gāo” could mean either “He is tall,” or “He is very tall.”
Negative Mandarin adjectives are formed by placing the negative particle (bù) before the adjective, as in “Tā bù gāo” – “He is not tall.”
Chinese Adjective Examples
| English | Chinese |
| tall | gāo |
| short | ǎi |
| big | dà |
| small | xiǎo |
| cheap | piányí |
| expensive | guì |
| She is not short. | Tā bù ǎi. |
| Is that (very) big? | Nèigè hěn dà ma? |
| Is it expensive? | Guì bù guì? |