A1
比 — comparing two things
How comparison works in Chinese with 比, why the 很 you have been taught to always include must be dropped here, and how to say how much bigger the difference is.
Chinese has no -er and no more. 比 goes between the two things being compared and the adjective follows, unchanged.
我比他高。
Wǒ bǐ tā gāo.
I’m taller than him.
今天比昨天冷。
Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng.
It’s colder today than yesterday.
Read it in order — I, compared to him, tall — and it comes out. The adjective is doing the same job it does in any other sentence; 比 has simply supplied something to measure against.
Drop the 很
This is the one thing to get right. Everywhere else, an adjective wants 很 in front of it to stand as a complete statement. In a 比 sentence it cannot appear at all.
我比他很高。
我比他高。
很 and 比 are both doing the job of giving the adjective a degree, and only one of them can. This is the most common mistake in the pattern, precisely because the 很 rule is drilled so hard beforehand.
The same goes for 非常 and 太. None of them fit here.
Saying how much
The amount of difference goes after the adjective, which is the reverse of English.
这个比那个贵一点儿。
Zhège bǐ nàge guì yìdiǎnr.
This one’s a bit more expensive.
他比我大三岁。
Tā bǐ wǒ dà sān suì.
He’s three years older than me.
今天比昨天冷得多。
Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng de duō.
It’s much colder today than yesterday.
一点儿 is a bit, 得多 is much. 更 does go in front — 今天更冷, today is even colder — but it implies a comparison already established rather than making one.
The negative is not 不比
不比 exists and means something narrower than you want: not more … than, which leaves open that they are equal. For the ordinary not as … as, Chinese uses 没有.
我没有他高。
Wǒ méiyǒu tā gāo.
I’m not as tall as him.
今天没有昨天冷。
Jīntiān méiyǒu zuótiān lěng.
It isn’t as cold today as yesterday.
那么 is often added before the adjective — 我没有他那么高 — and softens it further.
Saying they are the same
一样 does that, with 跟 or 和 joining the pair.
这个跟那个一样。
Zhège gēn nàge yíyàng.
This one and that one are the same.
我跟他一样高。
Wǒ gēn tā yíyàng gāo.
I’m as tall as he is.