Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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A 比 B + Adj — Comparing (1)
比字句（一）— 我比你高、鸡肉比猪肉贵一点儿
我比你高, 香蕉比西瓜贵, 三文鱼比猪肉贵得多, 成都没有北京那么冷: 比 puts two things side by side, says how much, and 没有 turns it round.
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Memory hook
A 比 B + Adj (+ how much) · A 没有 B (这么/那么) Adj
Side by side
The deck's ladders: meat prices, family heights, city temperatures. Hear how the tail — 一点儿, 很多, 得多, a number — sets the gap.
Tap any line to hear it
Side by side比一比
No pressure — just making it stick.
我____你高。
Wǒ ____ Nǐ gāo.
I'm taller than you.
Chicken, by a little. Which reply?
Salmon is far dearer than pork.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
成都____北京那么冷。
Chéngdū ____ Běijīng nàme lěng.
Chengdu isn't as cold as Beijing.
Your turn — say it
哥哥比我高5厘米。
My brother is 5 cm taller than me.
燕窝比猪肉贵____。
Yànwō bǐ zhūròu guì ____.
Bird's nest is far, far dearer than pork.
Set the gap for each comparison.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5The meat ladder, in pictures看图比价钱
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four things from the deck's price and weather tables. Match each picture, then compare it with something using 比.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
香蕉比西瓜贵。
Bananas are dearer than watermelon.
I'm not as tall as you.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
中国的外卖比英国的快得多。
Delivery in China is far faster than in Britain.
This lesson's characters
比 itself, and the two meats at the bottom of the deck's ladder.
to compare; than
象drawn from life
Two people standing side by side, facing the same way — the oldest 比 is exactly that, two figures in a row. Standing together is how you compare: 我比你高. 比赛 is a match, 比如 is 'for example', and 比 alone is the ratio in a score — 三比二, three to two. Two people, shoulder to shoulder, and one of them taller.
pig
形meaning + sound
The animal radical 犭 and 者 for the sound: the pig, China's meat. 猪肉 is pork, the baseline of every price in the deck; 猪年 is the Year of the Pig; and a friend who eats too much is a 猪 with a laugh. 鸡肉比猪肉贵一点儿 — everything is measured against the pig.
chicken
会two ideas joined
A bird 鸟 with a simplified sound part beside it: the chicken. 鸡肉 is chicken meat, 鸡蛋 is an egg, 鸡爪 are the chicken feet you learned to refuse in 要, and 宫保鸡丁 is Kung Pao chicken. 鸡肉比猪肉贵一点儿 — one rung up the ladder.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Climb the deck's meat ladder out loud, pork at the bottom: 鸡肉贵一点儿，牛肉贵一些，羊肉贵很多，三文鱼贵得多，燕窝贵多了. The gaps are the grammar.
- Compare China with home in three sentences — one 比, one with a gap, one 没有……那么. Then say them to a Chinese friend and watch the conversation start.
- Remember the one thing 比 refuses: 很. 我比你很高 is the most common mistake in HSK2 — and the easiest to stop making.