Want to actually learn this — with audio, spaced repetition and progress tracking?
Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 4
北京比上海大 Beijing is bigger than Shanghai
Using A 比 B + adjective for the most basic comparison. Picks up directional vocabulary: 北方 / 南方 (north / south), 这边 / 那边 / 旁边 (this side / that side / next to).
Hội thoại
北京比上海大 — Beijing is bigger than Shanghai
- 张天 北京比上海大. Beijing is bigger than Shanghai.
- 高文 是, 北京大. 但是上海的人比北京多. True, Beijing is big. But Shanghai has more people than Beijing.
- 张天 真的吗? Really?
- 高文 上海现在差不多两千五百万人. Shanghai's about twenty-five million people now.
- 张天 啊, 不少! Wow, that's a lot!
Hội thoại
北方人比南方人高 — Northerners are taller than southerners
- 张天 北方人比南方人高. Northerners are taller than southerners.
- 高文 是吗? 我是北方人, 我不高. Is that so? I'm a northerner, and I'm not tall.
- 张天 你不算, 大家都比你高. You don't count — everyone's taller than you.
- 高文 我的朋友周雨是南方人, 周雨比我高. My friend Zhou Yu is a southerner. Zhou Yu is taller than me.
- 张天 啊, 那也对. Hmm, fair enough.
Hội thoại
那边比这边好 — Over there is better than over here
- 张天 高文, 你在哪儿? Gao Wen, where are you?
- 高文 我在这边. I'm over here.
- 张天 那边比这边好, 我们去那边吧. Over there is better than over here. Let's go over there.
- 高文 好. 旁边有公共汽车, 我们坐车去. OK. There's a bus right next to us — let's take that.
- 张天 出发! Let's go!
Từ vựng
| 汉字 | Pinyin | Từ loại | Nghĩa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 比 | bǐ | prep. | than (A 比 B + adjective — comparison preposition) |
| 北方 | běifāng | n. | the north; northern region |
| 南方 | nánfāng | n. | the south; southern region |
| 长 | cháng | adj. | long (also reads zhǎng "to grow" — deferred) |
| 短 | duǎn | adj. | short (length); brief |
| 高 | gāo | adj. | tall; high |
| 边 | biān | n. | side; edge — used as a locative suffix (这边, 那边, 旁边) |
| 这边 | zhèbiān | n. | this side; this way; over here |
| 那边 | nàbiān | n. | that side; that way; over there |
| 旁边 | pángbiān | n. | next to; beside; on the side |
Chữ mới
| 汉字 | Pinyin | Từ loại | Nghĩa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 海 | hǎi | sea (in 海边) 海边 hǎibiān — seaside | |
| 千 | qiān | thousand (二09) 千万 qiānwàn — by all means; whatever you do | |
| 万 | wàn | ten thousand (二09) 千万 qiānwàn — by all means; whatever you do |
Chữ Hán — viết & nhận biết
bǐ than (comparison preposition); to compare Viết
比 is an associative compound: two 匕 (ancient pictograph of a person) standing side-by-side, depicting two figures being compared. Original meaning: "to compare". Modern senses: (1) the comparison preposition (北京比上海大), (2) the verb "to compare" (比一比 = "let's compare").
běi north Viết
A pictograph: two figures back-to-back. Originally the character for "back" (the body part) — extended to "north" because traditional Chinese houses face south, so your back faces north. Visually contrast with 比 (two figures side-by-side, comparing) — the small visual difference encodes a big semantic one.
nán south Viết
Originally pictographic — possibly depicting a southern-style musical instrument or hut (sources differ). The "south" meaning is firmly established by classical times. 北方 / 南方 are the basic north / south pair, used everywhere from地理 to weather to cultural stereotypes.
cháng / zhǎng long (cháng); to grow (zhǎng) — this chapter uses cháng Viết
duǎn short (length); brief Nhận biết
gāo tall; high (Level 1 revisit) Nhận biết
jīng capital (in 北京 = Beijing, 南京 = Nanjing, 京剧 = Peking opera) Nhận biết
biān side; edge (locative suffix in 这边 / 那边 / 旁边) Nhận biết
páng side; alongside (in 旁边 = next to) Nhận biết
Ngữ pháp
A 比 B + 形容词 — basic 比 comparison A 比 B + adjective — the basic comparison pattern
"比"是介词, 放在A和B中间, 不放在形容词后面: A 比 B + 形容词。规则: 形容词不能用"很 / 非常 / 真"修饰("北京比上海很大"是错的)。要表示程度, 用"更 / 还"或者"+ 数量补语"(下一课ch5学)。
比 is a preposition that goes BETWEEN A and B, not after the adjective. The pattern is rigid: A 比 B + adjective. Word-order trap: don't copy English "Beijing big than Shanghai" — Chinese is "Beijing 比 Shanghai big". Modifier trap: the adjective cannot take 很 / 非常 / 真 in a 比 sentence (北京比上海很大 is wrong). To express degree, use 更 / 还 or a quantity complement — both taught in ch5.
- 北京比上海大. Běijīng bǐ Shànghǎi dà. Beijing is bigger than Shanghai.
- 上海的人比北京多. Shànghǎi de rén bǐ Běijīng duō. Shanghai has more people than Beijing.
- 北方人比南方人高. Běifāng rén bǐ nánfāng rén gāo. Northerners are taller than southerners.
- 那边比这边好. Nàbiān bǐ zhèbiān hǎo. Over there is better than over here.
Phát âm
Want to actually learn this — with audio, spaced repetition and progress tracking?
Study in the app →