You finished this day
Daily lessons · Day 27 of 90
Describing how, not just what
Degree and manner
You can already say something is hot or cheap. Today adds how hot, and how well someone does something, which is where Chinese uses a character you have seen but not met.
How much
Degree words sit in front of the adjective.
Why it works
太 means excessively, so 太贵了 is not very expensive but too expensive, more than you are willing to pay. That is why it works as a complaint and why it almost always drags 了 along with it: something has tipped over into being too much.
Describing things
Ordinary adjectives, used the day 2 way.
Why it works
很 is still doing the job it did on day 2: it fills the gap where English would put is, and it carries much less weight than very. If you genuinely mean very, reach for 非常. If you mean it is simply so, 很 on its own is enough and is what a native speaker would say.
How well something is done
得 after a verb introduces a comment on the doing.
Why it works
This 得 is the second of the three de characters from day 13, and it has its own job: verb, 得, then how well. English uses an adverb after the verb, speaks well, and Chinese uses 得 to hook the comment on. Note that 很 comes back here, because what follows 得 is a plain adjective again.
太 and the compliment problem
If someone praises your Chinese and you say 太好了, you have agreed enthusiastically with them, which reads as immodest. 哪里哪里 or 还差得远 are the safe replies, and the second one uses exactly the 得 pattern from this lesson: still falling short by a long way.
Carried over from earlier days
Say each one out loud before you look at the English.
Today’s words 12
Check yourself
8 questions. Get 6 right to finish the day.
What does 太 actually mean?
- excessively, more than is wanted
- very
- quite
- extremely well
Show the answer
excessively, more than is wanted That is why 太贵了 is a complaint, not a description.
Type he speaks Chinese well in pinyin.
Show the answer
tā Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo Verb, 得, then the comment on how well.
Which character hooks a comment onto a verb?
- 得 de
- 的 de
- 地 de
- 了 le
Show the answer
得 de All three de characters sound the same. This is the one for how well.
Why does 很 come back after 得?
- what follows 得 is a plain adjective, which needs 很
- 得 requires it grammatically
- 很 marks the past
- it does not, that is an error
Show the answer
what follows 得 is a plain adjective, which needs 很 说得很好, spoken and it is good.
What is the problem with answering 太好了 to a compliment about your Chinese?
- it agrees enthusiastically and reads as immodest
- it is ungrammatical
- it means the opposite
- it is too formal
Show the answer
it agrees enthusiastically and reads as immodest 哪里哪里 or 还差得远 are the safe replies.
Which one goes after the adjective rather than before?
- 极了 jí le
- 非常 fēicháng
- 太 tài
- 很 hěn
Show the answer
极了 jí le 好极了, fantastic. The others all come first.
If you genuinely mean very, which word is best?
- 非常 fēicháng
- 很 hěn
- 太 tài
- 比较 bǐjiào
Show the answer
非常 fēicháng 很 carries far less weight than the English very.
Type you're speaking too fast in pinyin.
Show the answer
nǐ shuō de tài kuài le 得 for the comment, and 太 dragging 了 along with it.
Question 1 of 8
Writing practice optional
Every character from today, in the order it came up. Watch it, trace it, then write it from memory.
Press Watch to see the stroke order.
Stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi via Hanzi Writer, Arphic Public License.
Character 1 of 32
This lesson is written by an English speaker who learned Mandarin as a second language, and it is waiting on a check by a native speaker. If you spot something off, please tell us and we will fix it.