CHINESE ADJECTIVES

Adjectives - (形容詞) - ( Xíngróngcí )

Adjectives in Chinese language are an important topic which beginners must learn to improve their Chinese language knowledge.

Definition: Adjectives modify nouns by expressing to whom the object belongs. Chinese adjectives are different than English adjectives, because one can use this as verbs.

All Mandarin adjectives implicitly include “to be”, for example:

Instead of "You are Working", you may say "You working".

Examples in Chinese:

English	Chinese Characters	Pinyin
An ugly rat	一個醜陋的老鼠	Yīgè chǒulòu de lǎoshǔ
A green house	一個綠色的房子	Yīgè lǜsè de fángzi
A fat woman	一個胖女人	Yīgè pàng nǚrén

Possessive Adjectives

In order to show possession, one may add ‘de’ to personal pronouns as indicated below

English	Chinese Characters	Pinyin
His	他的	Tā de
My	我	Wǒ de
Your	你的	Nǐ de
Theirs	他們的	Tāmen de
Ours	我們的	Wǒmen de
Her	他的	Tā de
Mine	我	Wǒ de
Yours	你的	Nǐ de

List of Adjectives in Chinese

English	Chinese Characters	Pinyin
Black	黑色	Hēisè
Blue	藍	Lán
Brown	布朗	Bùlǎng
Gray	灰色	Huīsè
Green	綠	Lǜ
Orange	橙	Chéng
Purple	紫	Zǐ
Red	紅	Hóng
White	白	Bái
Yellow	黃河	Huánghé
Sizes	尺寸	Chǐcùn
Big	大	Dà
Deep	深	Shēn
Long	龍	Lóng
Narrow	窄	Zhǎi
Short	矮	Ǎi
Small, little	小，小	Xiǎo, xiǎo
Tall	高	Gāo
Thick	厚	Hòu
Thin	薄	Báo
Wide	寬	Kuān
Shapes	形狀	Xíngzhuàng
Round	回合	Huíhé
Straight	直	Zhí
Square	廣場	Guǎngchǎng
Fat	胖	Pàng
Triangular	三角形的	Sānjiǎoxíng de
Old	老	Lǎo
Young	年輕	Niánqīng
Smart	聰明	Cōngmíng
Slow	慢	Màn
Fast	快	Kuài
Near	近	Jìn
Far	遠	Yuǎn
Good	好	Hǎo
Bad	壞	Huài
Pretty	美	Měi
Light	輕	Qīng
Dark	暗	Àn