Want to actually learn this — with audio, spaced repetition and progress tracking?

Study in the app →

Help improve this content. If something looks off, let us know →

Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 16

我今天很累 I'm really tired today

Wǒ jīntiān hěn lèi

The book's opener — basic body-feeling vocabulary (累 / 渴 / 饿 / 困 / 病). Introduces adjective reduplication (累累的 / 高高兴兴的) as the chapter's grammar item.

我今天很累 — I'm really tired today

  1. 马山 wángyuè, zǎoshànghǎo! jīntiānzěnmeyàng? Wang Yue, good morning! How are you today?
  2. 王月 jīntiānhěnlèi. háihěn. I'm really tired today. Also very thirsty.
  3. 马山 lèilèide? shēntàihǎoba? Looking pretty tired? Maybe you're not feeling great?
  4. 王月 gǎnjuétàihǎo. xiǎngxiūxihuìer. Don't feel great. Want to rest for a bit.
  5. 马山 xiūxiba. guòduōzǒuzǒu. Rest then. But you should walk around more.

我没饿, 我太累 — I'm not hungry, I'm too tired

  1. 马山 wángyuè, 饿èma? chīfàn? Wang Yue, are you hungry? Want to eat together?
  2. 王月 méi饿è, tàilèi. I'm not hungry, I'm too tired.
  3. 马山 lèideshíhòuyàochīdōng西! shēngǎnjuézěnmeyàng? When you're tired you have to eat! How does your body feel?
  4. 王月 tàihǎo. yòulèiyòukùn. Not great. Both tired and sleepy.
  5. 马山 shìbìngleba? dìngyàoxiūxi. That sounds like you're sick? You really have to rest.

休息一会儿 — Rest for a bit

  1. 王月 hěnlèi. hěn. I'm really tired. Also really thirsty.
  2. 马山 diǎnshuǐba. dìngyàoshuǐ. Drink some water. You really have to drink water.
  3. 王月 hǎo. xiūxihuìer, ránhòukànkàn. OK. I'll rest a bit, then we'll see.
  4. 马山 hǎodehuà, yīnggāikànshēng. If it's not good, you should see a doctor.
  5. 王月 hǎo, xiǎngxiǎng. OK, I'll think about it.
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
lèi adj. tired (chapter anchor)
adj. thirsty
饿 è adj. hungry
kùn adj. sleepy (sets up ch3 sleep arc)
bìng n./v. illness; be sick
感觉 gǎnjué v./n. feel; feeling (the chapter's meta-verb)
身体 shēntǐ n. body
休息 xiūxi v. rest (the natural solution to 累)
一会儿 yíhuìr n. a (little) while; a moment
王月 Wáng Yuè pn. Wang Yue (persona — anxious-but-curious software engineer with insomnia)
马山 Mǎ Shān pn. Ma Shan (persona — energetic fitness instructor / 王月's neighbor)
高高兴兴 gāogāo-xìngxìng adj. happily; cheerfully (AABB reduplication of 高兴)
漂漂亮亮 piàopiào-liàngliàng adj. all pretty / spick-and-span (AABB reduplication of 漂亮)
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
Wáng (in 王月 = Wang Yue (persona — anxious-but-curious software engineer with insomnia)) 王月 Wáng Yuè — Wang Yue (persona — anxious-but-curious software engineer with insomnia)王明 Wáng Míng — Wang Ming (persona — 28, software engineer)
gǎn feel; sense (in 感觉, 感冒) 感觉 gǎnjué — feel; feeling (the chapter\'s meta-verb)感冒 gǎnmào — catch cold; cold感谢 gǎnxiè — thank; appreciate
xiū rest (in 休息) 休息 xiūxi — rest (the natural solution to 累)退休 tuìxiū — retire
rest; breath (in 休息) 休息 xiūxi — rest (the natural solution to 累)信息 xìnxī — information; message消息 xiāoxi — message; news
kùn sleepy / trapped (Bk2 ch1) 困难 kùnnán — difficult; difficulty
yīng / yìng (yīng) should; (yìng) respond — in 应该 应该 yīnggāi — should
gāi should; ought to (in 该…了) 应该 yīnggāi — should

lèi tired (chapter anchor) เขียน

11 strokes top-bottom

累 = "tired / weary / heavy". Top: 田 (field), bottom: 糸 (silk thread / cord). Original sense: "binding field crops with cord — both heavy and exhausting". Modern: the central tiredness adjective.

jué / jiào feel (jué, in 感觉); sleep (jiào, in 睡觉 — ch3) เขียน

9 strokes top-bottom

body (in 身体) เขียน

7 strokes left-right radical 亻

Phono-semantic compound: 亻 (person) + 本 (root / fundamental). Original sense: "the person's fundamental form = body". Modern: the standard "body" character (身体).

rest; breath (in 休息) เขียน

10 strokes top-bottom radical 心

息 = "breath / rest". Top: 自 (nose / self), bottom: 心 (heart). Original sense: "the breath" — calm, self-regulating. Extended to "rest" — letting heart and breath settle. The 心 base places 息 in the chapter's heart-cluster theme.

thirsty จดจำ

12 strokes left-right radical 氵

饿

è hungry จดจำ

10 strokes left-right radical 饣

kùn sleepy; trapped จดจำ

7 strokes enclosure

bìng illness; be sick จดจำ

10 strokes enclosure radical 疒

gǎn feel; sense (in 感觉, 感冒) จดจำ

13 strokes top-bottom radical 心

xiū rest (in 休息) จดจำ

6 strokes left-right radical 亻

形容词重叠 — softened / intensified adjectives 形容词重叠 — adjective reduplication (AA, AABB)

形容词可以重叠表示两种意思: (1) AA 形 (单音节): 累累的, 红红的——加强语气, "累累的"= 真的累 / 看起来累的样子. (2) AABB 形 (双音节): 高高兴兴(的), 漂漂亮亮——既强调又显得"软". 注意: (a) 不是所有形容词都能重叠. 状态形容词 (是 / 有 不是形容词); 颜色 (蓝, 黄) 一般不重叠; 评价类 (好, 坏) 也不太重叠. 描述性 / 性格类 (累, 高兴, 漂亮) 是最常重叠的. (b) 重叠形容词常常带"的", 句法上像名词修饰语.

Reduplicate an adjective to soften or intensify it. Two forms: (1) AA form (single-syllable adjectives): 累累的, 红红的 — emphasizes / paints a picture, "累累的" = "looking really tired / a tired look". (2) AABB form (two-syllable adjectives): 高高兴兴(的), 漂漂亮亮 — both intensify and add a "soft" feel. CRITICAL rules: (a) Not every adjective reduplicates. Color words (蓝, 黄) generally don't. Evaluative words (好, 坏) reduplicate weakly. Descriptive / personality words (累, 高兴, 漂亮) are the most natural. (b) Reduplicated adjectives almost always take 的 — syntactically they behave like noun modifiers (累累的样子 = "a tired look") or adverbial complements (走得累累的 — informal).

  • 我今天累累的, 想休息一会儿. Wǒ jīntiān lèilèi de, xiǎng xiūxi yíhuìr. I feel quite tired today, want to rest for a moment.
  • 马山一天到晚高高兴兴的. Mǎ Shān yì tiān dào wǎn gāogāoxìngxìng de. Ma Shan is cheerful all day long.
  • 这家店漂漂亮亮的, 很干净. Zhè jiā diàn piàopiaoliàngliàng de, hěn gānjìng. This place is bright and pretty, very clean.

Want to actually learn this — with audio, spaced repetition and progress tracking?

Study in the app →

Report an issue

Spotted an error or have a suggestion? Every report helps us improve this content.