3 · The particle de and modification
Nice and clean: doubled adjectives
adjective reduplication: AA, AABB and ABB
An adjective said twice — hónghóng de, gāngānjìngjìng de — paints a vivid picture; it already contains its degree, so hěn and bù cannot stand before it.
At a glance
- Remember
- Double the adjective to paint it — AA, AABB, ABB — add de, and leave hěn and bù out.
- Form
- 红红的one syllable: AA de
- Signal words
- 红红的
- 干干净净的
- 慢慢地
- 好好地
- Trap
- Wrong:他很高高兴兴地回家了。Right:他高高兴兴地回家了。
Your turn
8 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Chinese.
| one syllable: AA de | 红红的 |
| two syllables: AABB de | 干干净净的 |
| before a verb: AA de | 慢慢地走 |
| ABB | 香喷喷的 |
| or undoubled, with hěn | 很干净 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
A one-syllable adjective doubles as AA, usually with de.
她有一双大大的眼睛。She has big round eyes.
A two-syllable adjective doubles each half: AABB.
孩子们高高兴兴地去上学了。The children set off happily for school.
Before a verb the doubled adjective takes the de of manner, the one that stands before verbs.
你慢慢地说，别着急。Take your time telling me — don’t rush.
A doubled adjective takes no hěn and no bù: the doubling is the degree.
她的房间总是干干净净的。Her room is always spotless.
Example sentences
她的脸红红的，有点儿不好意思。Her cheeks were pink — she was a little embarrassed.
妈妈做了一桌香喷喷的饭菜。Mum made a whole table of delicious-smelling food.
考试前你要好好地复习。You must revise properly before the exam.
老师把问题讲得清清楚楚的。The teacher explained the problem perfectly clearly.
这个小宝宝胖乎乎的，真可爱。This baby is so chubby — how sweet.
周末我想在家舒舒服服地睡一觉。At the weekend I want to have a nice long sleep at home.
7 more example sentences
她留着长长的头发。She wears her hair long.
爷爷每天都笑眯眯的。Grandpa is always smiling.
晚上的校园安安静静的。The campus is nice and quiet in the evening.
孩子的眼睛亮晶晶的。The child’s eyes were sparkling.
你好好想想再回答我。Think it over properly before you answer me.
她每天都打扮得漂漂亮亮的。She is always nicely turned out.
太阳照在身上，暖洋洋的。The sun on my back felt lovely and warm.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
In English “very” goes with almost any adjective. A doubled adjective in Chinese already contains its own intensity, so 很 before it says the same thing twice and is wrong. Use one or the other: 很高兴, or 高高兴兴.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Chinese can double an adjective to make a description vivid, as English does with “nice and clean”, “bright red” or “all warm and cosy”. A one-syllable adjective doubles as AA: 红红的脸, a rosy face, 大大的眼睛, big round eyes. A two-syllable one doubles each half, AABB: 干干净净, spotless, 高高兴兴, happily.
The doubled form almost always carries 的 after it, whether it describes a noun or ends the sentence: 房间打扫得干干净净的, “the room has been cleaned till it is spotless”. Before a verb it takes 地, as a manner adverb: 慢慢地走, “walk slowly”, 好好地休息, “have a proper rest”.
A third pattern adds a doubled syllable to a one-syllable adjective, ABB: 香喷喷, smelling delicious, 胖乎乎, chubby, 笑眯眯, smiling, 亮晶晶, sparkling. These come as ready-made words and are learnt one by one; each one carries a sound picture as much as a meaning.
Because the doubling already says “very, and vividly so”, nothing that measures degree can be added: no 很, 非常 or 太 in front, and no 不 to deny it. Only common, everyday adjectives double; formal ones such as 美丽 or 重要 do not. This is mostly a feature of speech and of description in stories.
A closer look
Vivid, not just strong
很干净 rates a room: it is clean, to a high degree. 干干净净的 shows it: the reader sees the polished floor. That is why the doubled form is common in stories, in descriptions of people, and in what parents say to children, and rare in a report or a contract.
It also explains why the doubled form so often follows 得 after a verb: 洗得干干净净的, 写得清清楚楚的. The verb says what was done, the doubled adjective shows the state it left behind.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
-
the adjective already contains a comparison, such as 雪白, “snow-white”, or 冰凉, “ice-cold”
it doubles as a whole word, ABAB, not AABB.
他的手冰凉冰凉的。His hands were ice-cold.
In these words the first syllable is a picture — snow, ice — and not half of a pair. Doubling the whole word repeats the picture.
Worth knowing (1)
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Two ways to say slowly
慢 doubled before a verb is so common that in northern speech it often ends in a final r and a first tone on the second syllable. On this site it is written as it reads character by character, 慢慢; both pronunciations are heard.
我们慢慢来，不着急。Let’s take it slowly — there’s no hurry.
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