Comparison: 比 (bǐ)
Comparison: 比 (bǐ)
Comparing two things — "bigger than", "more expensive than" — needs no special adjective form in Chinese at all, unlike English's "-er" ending. One small word, 比 (bǐ), does the entire job.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
A 比 B + adjective — no "-er" ending to learn
他比我高 (tā bǐ wǒ gāo, He is taller than me)
He is taller than me
English changes the adjective itself for comparison ("tall" → "taller"). Chinese never touches the adjective: 他比我高 is literally "he compared-to me tall" — 高 (gāo, tall) stays exactly the same word you already know from describing height, just placed after 比 and the thing being compared against. There's no equivalent of "-er" or "more" to memorize.
不比 doesn't mean "not more" the way you'd expect
他不比我高 (tā bù bǐ wǒ gāo) ≈ "he's not any taller than me" (often implies roughly equal, not "shorter")
he's not taller than me
Negating 比 with 不 (他不比我高) is more commonly used to say two things are roughly equal or that a claimed difference isn't true, rather than flatly asserting the reverse (that he's shorter). If you specifically mean "he's shorter than me", it's clearer to flip the comparison around: 我比他高 (I'm taller than him) — a small nuance worth knowing so 不比 doesn't get overused.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- compared to / than
- English
- tall
- English
- big
- English
- small
- English
- expensive
- English
- cheap
- English
- good
- English
- He is taller than me
- English
- This one is more expensive than that one