Adjectives and Intensifiers
Adjectives don’t need verbs

Linking Adjectives and Nouns
In Chinese, nouns don’t need a verb to be linked to adjectives. That's because, in Chinese adjectives, the verb is already assumed!

Rule
Instead of a verb, the word 很 (hěn) is often used to link a noun and an adjective together. 很 is known as “very” in most situations, but here, 很 is only used to link the noun and adjective to make the sentence work.

Structure
[Noun] + 很 + [Adjective]

EXAMPLE
你 很 可爱 nǐ hěn kě ài You are cute.
你 很 聪明 nǐ hěn cōng míng You are smart.
你 很 高 nǐ hěn gāo You are tall.

Tips
If you write the sentence without 很, the sentence would be weird.

EXAMPLE
你 很 可爱 = 你 可爱 nǐ hěn kě ài = nǐ kě ài You are cute. = You cute.

Negating Adjectives
Rule
Negating adjectives works the same way as negating verbs: the negation is always placed before the adjective.
The word 不 (bù) is used to negate the adjective. Remember, never use 没 (méi) to negate an adjective.

Structure
[Noun] + 不 + [Adjective]

EXAMPLE
你 不 可爱 nǐ bù kě àiYou are not cute.
你 不 胖 nǐ bù pàng You are not fat.
你 不 大方 nǐ bù dà fāng You are not generous.

How to intensify the adjectival verbs?

INTENSIFIER	INTENSIFIER + ADJECTIVAL VERB
很 hěn very	很好 hěn hǎo to be very good
真 zhēn really	真好 zhēn hǎo to be really good
比较 bǐ jiào rather	比较好 bǐ jiào hǎo to be rather good
相当 xiāng dāng quite	相当好 xiāng dāng hǎo to be quite good
特别 tè bié especially	特别好 tè bié hǎo to be especially good
非常 fēi cháng extremely	非常好 fēi cháng hǎo to be extremely good
尤其 yóu qí especially	尤其好 yóu qí hǎo to be especially good
极其 jí qí extremely	极其好 jí qí hǎo to be extremely good
得不得了 dé bù dé liǎo extremely	好的不得了 hǎo dí bù dé liǎo to be extremely good
太 tài too	太好 tài hǎo to be too good
更 gēng more	更好 gēng hǎo to be even better
最 zuì most	最好 zuì hǎo to be best