Earlier we learned that other than its girls and food, Sichuan province is also famous for its pandas. Pandas are native to central and south-western China, and they live mostly in Sichuan province. According to UNESCO website, Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries are home to more than 30% of world’s pandas.
[Source: Click here]
Now let’s learn more about the pandas.
熊猫 (xióngmāo): panda
熊猫很可爱
Xióngmāo hěn kě'ài
Pandas are very cute
它耳朵小小的
Tā ěrduo xiǎo xiǎo de
They have small ears
它眼睛大大的
Tā yǎnjīng dàdà de
Their eyes are big
它尾巴短短的
Tā wěiba duǎn duǎn de
They have short tails
它身体胖胖的
Tā shēntǐ pàngpàng de
Their bodies are fat
Did you notice something in the above sentences? Yes, the reduplication of adjectives. Adjectives are reduplicated in Chinese language to indicate a higher degree of a certain quality than their non-reduplicated versions. The reduplicated form of monosyllabic adjective is AA and of disyllabic adjective is AABB. For example:
长长 (chángcháng)
漂漂亮亮 (piàopiàoliàngliàng)
Check this post for the reduplication of verbs in Chinese language.
Hi, I read the post about reduplication where you said that it looks like ABAB, here you wrote AABB for disyllabic adjectives... Could you explain what is the difference in use or maybe there is a mistake somewhere, cause now I am a little bit confused :)
ReplyDeleteBTW I love your blog ;) For someone who is a beginner in Chinese it'a a huge help :D
Alex
Hi Alex
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I think the ABAB structure you were talking about it for reduplication of verbs, and in this post we are talking about the reduplication of adjectives. That is why they are different. While these structure apply in most of the cases, please keep in mind that there are always some exceptions. One good example, for reduplication of verbs would be
聊聊天 (liáoliáotiān)
Here the structure is AAB.
And thanks for following the blog. Please feel free to reach out like this if you have any questions. Also feel free to suggest topics if there is anything you would like me to cover.
Ma Si Wen
Oh yes... Now I see ... I was a little lost and didn't catch that ;) Ah, beginners have so much problems :P Thank you for your help :)
ReplyDelete