ADJ: adjective
Definition
Adjectives are words that typically modify nouns and specify their properties or attributes. They may also function as predicates. These include the categories known as 區別詞 / qūbiécí and 形容詞 / xíngróngcí.
- 好 風景 / hǎo fēngjǐng “good scenery”
- 天氣 很 好 / tiānqì hěn hǎo “The weather is good.”
The adjective may be accompanied by the particle 的 / de when functioning as a prenominal modifier (for either 區別詞 / qūbiécí or 形容詞 / xíngróngcí), and obligatorily when functioning as a predicate if it is a 區別詞 / qūbiécí.
- 美麗 的 風景 / měilì de fēngjǐng “beautiful scenery”
- 這 隻 鳥 是 雌 的 / zhè zhī niǎo shì cí de “This bird is female.”
Note that ordinal numerals such as 第一 / dìyī “first” and 第三 / dìsān “third” are to be treated as adjectives and tagged ADJ per UD specifications, even though they are traditionally classified as numerals in Chinese.
Examples
- 形容詞 / xíngróngcí
- typically can be pre-modified by degree adverbs, like 好 / hǎo “very”, and the negator 不 / bù, can be post-modified by aspect markers, like 了 / le, but cannot take object.
- 好 / hǎo “good”, 美麗 / měilì “beautiful”, 小 / xiǎo “small”, 老 / lǎo “old”
- 區別詞 / qūbiécí
- can pre-modify nouns directly and can be pre-modified by the negator 非 / fēi but cannot be modified by degree adverbs.
- 金 / jīn “gold(en)”, 男 / nán “male”, 慢性 / mànxìng “slow acting”
- Ordinal numbers
- formed by a numerial preceded by 第 / dì.
- 第一 / dìyī “first”, 第三 / dìsān “third”, 第五十三 / dìwǔshísān “fifty-third”
ADJ in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [ca] [cs] [cy] [da] [el] [en] [es] [et] [eu] [fi] [fro] [fr] [ga] [grc] [hu] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [kpv] [ky] [myv] [no] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [uk] [u] [urj] [vi] [xcl] [yue] [zh]