It’s a natural human tendency to compare: is it larger or smaller, or are they older or younger; richer or poorer; taller or shorter and so on. Learning how to use the right phrase or sentence structure will enable you to talk more effectively in Mandarin Chinese with your colleagues or friends when you want to compare something!
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) To compare one thing with another
(ii) How to say “even…. than.…” in the right context
Dialogue:
Close friends are talking about ages:
（在街上）
(Zài jiē shàng)
(on the street)
A:丽丽，你知道小华是哪年生的么？
A: Lì lì, nǐ zhī dào Xiǎo Huá shì nǎ nián shēng de me?
Lily, do you know which year Xiao Hua was born?
B:她是89年生的。她比我小两岁。
B: Tā shì bā jiǔ nián shēng de. Tā bǐ wǒ xiǎo liǎng suì.
She was born in 1989, so she is two years younger than me.
A:那你们都比我大。我最小。
A: Nà nǐ men dōu bǐ wǒ dà. Wǒ zuì xiǎo.
You are all older than me. I am the youngest.
B:你是哪年的？
B: Nǐ shì nǎ nián de?
Which year were you born?
A:我是90年的。90后
A: Wǒ shì jiǔ líng nián de. Jiǔ líng hòu.
I was born in 1990; I am from the post-90 generation.
B:哦，那王娜比你还小。她是91年的。
B: Ó, nà Wáng Nà bǐ nǐ hái xiǎo. Tā shì jiǔ yī nián de.
Oh, Wang Na is even younger than you. She was born in 1991.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
比较：comparison
A比B大：A is bigger than B
B比C小：B is smaller than C
比：than
你知道：do you know
生：born
小：small, means younger in Chinese
大：big, means older in Chinese
两岁：two years
老：older
年轻：younger
你是哪年的：which year were you born?
比我大：older than me
最小：smallest, youngest
最大：biggest, oldest
90后：post-90 generation
Cultural/Grammar note:
When you want to compare two objects, you can use the following sentence structure:
A比B + adj.
Eg.
我比你大：I am older than you.
她比你矮：She is shorter than you.
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