Descriptions & Attributes: Vocabulary for qualities, comparisons, and descriptive expressions

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Pinyin is the standard romanisation used to show Mandarin pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. You’ll often see tone marks on the vowels to show the four tones (plus the neutral tone), for example mā / má / mǎ / mà / ma. “Numbered pinyin” shows the same tones using a number after the syllable instead of tone marks, for example ma1 / ma2 / ma3 / ma4 / ma (sometimes written as ma5 for the neutral tone). Numbered pinyin is handy when you can’t easily type tone marks, while tone-mark pinyin is usually easier to read once you’re used to it.

比

• Pinyin: bǐ
• Numbered pinyin: bi3
• English translation: than, to compare

不大

• Pinyin: bù dà
• Numbered pinyin: bu4 da4
• English translation: not big

不对

• Pinyin: bù duì
• Numbered pinyin: bu4 dui4
• English translation: incorrect, wrong

差

• Pinyin: chà
• Numbered pinyin: cha4
• English translation: bad, poor

常

• Pinyin: cháng
• Numbered pinyin: chang2
• English translation: often

常常

• Pinyin: cháng cháng
• Numbered pinyin: chang2 chang2
• English translation: often

错

• Pinyin: cuò
• Numbered pinyin: cuo4
• English translation: wrong, incorrect

大

• Pinyin: dà
• Numbered pinyin: da4
• English translation: big

多

• Pinyin: duō
• Numbered pinyin: duo1
• English translation: many, much, how (many)

非常

• Pinyin: fēi cháng
• Numbered pinyin: fei1 chang2
• English translation: very, extremely

高

• Pinyin: gāo
• Numbered pinyin: gao1
• English translation: tall, high

贵

• Pinyin: guì
• Numbered pinyin: gui4
• English translation: expensive

好

• Pinyin: hǎo
• Numbered pinyin: hao3
• English translation: good

会

• Pinyin: huì
• Numbered pinyin: hui4
• English translation: can, to know how to

快

• Pinyin: kuài
• Numbered pinyin: kuai4
• English translation: fast, quick

慢

• Pinyin: màn
• Numbered pinyin: man4
• English translation: slow

难

• Pinyin: nán
• Numbered pinyin: nan2
• English translation: difficult

能

• Pinyin: néng
• Numbered pinyin: neng2
• English translation: can, be able to

认真

• Pinyin: rèn zhēn
• Numbered pinyin: ren4 zhen1
• English translation: serious, earnest

少

• Pinyin: shǎo
• Numbered pinyin: shao3
• English translation: few, little

太

• Pinyin: tài
• Numbered pinyin: tai4
• English translation: too, extremely

小

• Pinyin: xiǎo
• Numbered pinyin: xiao3
• English translation: small

新

• Pinyin: xīn
• Numbered pinyin: xin1
• English translation: new

行

• Pinyin: xíng
• Numbered pinyin: xing2
• English translation: to be OK, to walk

一样

• Pinyin: yī yàng
• Numbered pinyin: yi1 yang4
• English translation: same, alike

有用

• Pinyin: yǒu yòng
• Numbered pinyin: you3 yong4
• English translation: useful

远

• Pinyin: yuǎn
• Numbered pinyin: yuan3
• English translation: far

重

• Pinyin: zhòng
• Numbered pinyin: zhong4
• English translation: heavy

重要

• Pinyin: zhòng yào
• Numbered pinyin: zhong4 yao4
• English translation: important

最

• Pinyin: zuì
• Numbered pinyin: zui4
• English translation: most

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