To Describe Something In Chinese Using Adverb 很 + Adjective
In this video lesson we'll learn how to describe something in Chinese by using the structure of Adverb 很 + Adjective. And we'll also learn a very important sentence structure: Adjective as predicate in Chinese.
- To describe something in Chinese
- Adjective as predicate in Chinese
- Adverb 很 + Adjective in Chinese
- Adverb 很 + Verb in Chinese
VOCABULARY
| HSK | CHINESE |
PINYIN | P.O.S | ENGLISH | AUDIO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 房间 | fángjiān | n. | room | |
| 1 | 很 | hěn | adv. | very; a lot; quite; pretty | |
| 1 | 小 | xiǎo | adj. | small; little | |
| 2 | 好吃 | hǎochī | adj. | tasty (for food) | |
| 1 | 好喝 | hǎohē | adj. | tasty (for drinks) | |
| 1 | 高兴 | gāoxìng | adj. | happy |
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: Adverb 很 + Adjective in Chinese · HSK 1
hěn 很 very; a lot; quite; pretty
很 is an Adverb, it suggests that the "degree" or "extent" is "very" or "a lot". It can be used to modify an Adjective.
Adverb 很 + Adjective
- hěnhǎo 很好 very good
- hěnzǎo 很早 very early
Grammar 2: To Describe Something in Chinese · HSK 1
If we want to describe something in Chinese and say "something is very...", we do not say "something 是很...", we say:
Subject + Adverb 很 + Adjective
- zhè suǒ xuéxiào hěn hǎo 这所学校很好。 This school (is) very good.
- tā de fángjiān hěn xiǎo 他的房间很小。 His room (is) very small.
Grammar 3: Adjective As Predicate in Chinese · HSK 1
We learned about Verb (Phrases) and Nouns being the Predicate in Chinese Sentence, in Chinese, an Adjective (Phrase) can also function as the Predicate of the sentence.
| SUBJECT | ADJ. PREDICATE |
| the topic | explain/discuss/describe... the topic ADJECTIVE. (PHRASE) |
| wǒde fángjiān 我的房间 my room |
hěn xiǎo 很小 very small |
| píngguǒ 苹果 apple |
hěn hǎochī 很好吃 tasty (for food) |
| chá 茶 tea |
hěn hǎohē 很好喝 tasty (for drinks) |
Grammar 4: Adverb 很 + (some) Verb in Chinese · HSK 1
The Adverb 很 can modify some(not all) verbs in Chinese as well:
- hěn xǐhuan 很喜欢 quite like
QuizzesStatus
Lesson Practice
In the previous lesson we learned that 间 is a m/w for rooms, but I see in the comments that you say 这个房间。So, presumably, saying 这间房间 is incorrect, right?
Both are okay. 个 is more casual than 间.
早上好， 丽丽。我有一个问题：怎么说 “This room is small.” (I mean when you don’t want to say it is very small, just small.)
e.g. 这个房间小。可以吗？
You can’t say: 我好。我舒服。without 很, can you?
I like your course design, particularly the presentation and step by step approach. The communicative part where students have to form questions and answers (whole sentences) is most useful as it allows me to practice the content.
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About the question. 很 is less strong as the English “very”, even though it is translated that way, 很 is more like the English “pretty (as in pretty much)”. Or we can say that 很 is more like a “link word” that link the Subject and the Adjective together.
If a Chinese native speaker would express “This room is small. ” they would most likely say “这个房间很小。” If they want to say “This room is very small.” they would say “这个房间很小”, but “很” would have a stressed tone, or they would say “这个房间非常小。”
非常(fēicháng) and 很 and their English equivalents “very; unusually” are compared in Lesson 23
你好！谢谢你！我很喜欢这courses
不客气！我很高兴你喜欢！I’m very glad that you like our Chinese HSK 1 Course!
谢谢你Lili。This lesson is very helpful.
Thanks! I’m glad you find our HSK 1 lessons helpful!