Lesson 9: Adjective (Describing something or someone)

Adjective in Bahasa Indonesia is called: Kata sifat. Its purpose it to describe something/nouns.

For example: When we say "dog", we can add an adjective to describe the dog, such as: small!

The pattern is: Adjective + Noun

Small dog
Small (Adj) = 小     xiǎo
Dog (Noun) = 狗     gǒu

So, we say: 小狗 xiǎo gǒu

Black dog
Black (Adj) = 黑     hēi
Dog (Noun) = 狗     gǒu

In Chinese we say: 黑狗  hēi gǒu


When the adjective is long (it is more than just one word), we will normally add 的 de in the middle (after the adjective and before the noun)

The pattern is: Adjective + 的 de + Noun

For example:

We can describe the word "House" with a few adjectives below:

Beautiful    漂亮       lán sè
Blue            蓝色      piào liang

Because the adjectives above are more than one words, than we have to use 的 de  in the middle.

Thus we say:
蓝色的屋子             lán sè de wū zi                 Blue House
漂亮的屋子             piào liang de wū zi          Beautiful House

Try to digest the above before going on to the following explanation.

There are times where the description about something consist of adjective + noun
For example: We would like to describe "Girl" with the adjective phrase "big eye"
"big" is an adjective, while "eye" is a noun

So, in Mandarin to translate "The girl with Big Eyes" we can say:
大眼睛的女孩

dà yǎnjīng de nǔ hái

眼睛           yǎnjīng        = eyes                     ==> the first noun
大               dà                = big                       ==> adjective that explains the first noun
女孩           nǔ hái          = girl                      ==> This is the second yet the MAIN noun


If you notice, there are two parts of adjective in the above phrase "The girl with big eyes".
a. the first is "big" that explains the "eyes"
b. the second is "big eyes" that explains the main noun, "the girl"

In this case, the eyes are being explained by an adjective word "big". Thus in the phrase "the girl with big eyes" the adjective is now 大眼睛 dà yǎnjīng (more than one word), therefore we need 的 de after the adjective and before the word "girl" - 女孩 nǔ hái. Same thing apply to the third phrase below!

The girl with black hair
黑头发的女孩

hēi tóufa de nǔ hái

黑                 hēi           = black           ==> the adjective to explain the first noun

头发             tóu fa      = hair              ==> the first noun
女孩             nǔ hái     = girl               ==> the main noun

Try the following:

The room on the left side

left                 左        zuǒ                     ==> the adjective to explain the first noun

side                边       biǎn                    ==> the noun

room              房间   fáng jiān            ==> the main noun

You should get:

左边的房间

zuǒ biǎn de fáng jiān

Please translate the following by applying the above:

1. Beautiful flower

2. Good Teacher

3. High mountain

4. Square Table

5. Delicious dinner

Good day!

Linda Tan