Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

33 Making comparisons

Comparison structures are used to indicate that things are similar to or different from each other,

or to indicate that something is more than or less than another thing in some way.

This chapter presents the structures used to make comparisons in Mandarin. It uses the following

grammatical terms and abbreviations. Refer to the relevant chapters for more information about

each grammatical category.

noun phrase (NP) Chapter 9

adjectival verb (AV) and adjectival verb phrase (AVP) Chapter 10

stative verb (SV) and stative verb phrase (SVP) Chapter 11

modal verb (MV) Chapter 12

action verb (V) and action verb phrase (VP) Chapter 13

33.1 Similarity

33.1.1 indicating that noun phrases are identical

To indicate that two noun phrases are similar or equal, say:

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 一样

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 一樣

NP 1 gēn/hé NP 2 yīyàng

NP 1 and NP 2 identical/same

这本书跟/和那本书一样。

這本書跟/和那本書一樣。

Zhè běn shū gēn/hé nà běn shū yīyàng.

This book and that book are the same.

今天的天气跟/和昨天的一样。

今天的天氣跟/和昨天的一樣。

Jīntiān de tiānqì gēn/hé zuótiān de yīyàng.

Today’s weather is the same as yesterday’s.

Note

the words 跟 ggn and 和 hé are equivalent in meaning. In all of the structures in this chapter in which

they occur, 跟 ggn and 和 hé are interchangeable. In some dialects, 同 tóng occurs in this structure

instead of 跟 ggn or 和 hé.

C16.1, 33.2.1