Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

makiNG ComPariSoNS

33.1

33.1.6 indicating identical performance of an action

To indicate that two noun phrases perform an action in a similar way, say:

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 [verb 得] 一样 AV

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 [verb 得] 一樣 AV

NP 1 gēn/hé NP 2 [verb de] yīyàng AV

NP 1 and NP 2 perform the verb equally AV

我跟他吃得一样多。

我跟他吃得一樣多。

Wǒ gēn tā chī de yīyàng duō.

I eat as much as him.

弟弟跟妹妹写得一样快。

弟弟跟妹妹寫得一樣快。

Dìdi gēn mèimei xiě de yīyàng kuài.

Younger brother and younger sister write equally fast.

If the object of the action verb is included in the sentence, the action verb is said twice, once

followed by the object, and once followed by 得一样 de yīyàng (AV).

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 [action verb + object] [action verb 得] 一样 AV

NP 1 跟/和 NP 2 [action verb + object] [action verb 得] 一樣 AV

NP 1 gēn/hé NP 2 [action verb + object] [action verb de] yīyàng AV

NP 1 and NP 2 perform the action verb equally AV

我跟他吃饭吃得一样多。

我跟他吃飯吃得一樣多。

Wǒ gēn tā chī fàn chī de yīyàng duō.

I eat as much as him.

弟弟跟妹妹写字写得一样快。

弟弟跟妹妹寫字寫得一樣快。

Dìdi gēn mèimei xiě zì xiě de yīyàng kuài.

Younger brother and younger sister write characters equally fast.

Here are several variations in this pattern. They differ in the order of the phrases. In all of these

variations, [action verb + object] occurs before [action verb 得 de], and 一样/一樣 yīyàng AV

occurs at the end of the sentence.

Variation 1

NP 1 [action verb + object] [action verb 得] 跟/和 NP 2 一样 AV

NP 1 [action verb + object] [action verb 得] 跟/和 NP 2 一樣 AV

NP 1 [action verb + object] [action verb de] gēn/hé NP 2 yīyàng AV

NP 1 and NP 2 perform the action verb equally AV

我吃饭吃得跟他一样多。

我吃飯吃得跟他一樣多。

Wǒ chī fàn chī de gēn tā yīyàng duō.

I eat as much as him.

弟弟写字写得跟妹妹一样快。

弟弟寫字寫得跟妹妹一樣快。

Dìdi xiě zì xiě de gēn mèimei yīyàng kuài.

Younger brother and younger sister write characters equally fast.