The Simplicity Of Chinese Grammar - 6 (The Structure Of Comparisons)

Consider these sentences in English:

1. The hotel is close to the airport.

2. My hands are bigger than yours.

3. Her eyes are like her mother's.

4. Your Chinese is as good as his.

In each of these cases, there are two entities being compared in some sense, and the comparison term is in-between.

This is quite simple, but in abstract terms, the structure of the corresponding Chinese sentences is more uniform.

Instead of placing the entirety of the comparison term between the two entities being compared, what's placed between them is the type of comparison. The outcome or result of the comparison follows the second entity.

Let's look at the same four sentences in Mandarin.

1. 酒店 离 机场 很 近 jiǔdiàn lí jīchǎng hěn jìn ("The hotel is close to the airport", literally "Hotel from airport (connector) close")

2. 我 的 手 比 你 的 大 wǒ de shǒu bǐ nǐ de dà ("My hands are bigger than yours", literally "My hands inequality comparator yours big")

3. 她 的 眼睛 像 她 妈妈 的 一样 tā de yǎnjīng xiàng tā māmā de yīyàng ("Her eyes are like her mother's", literally, "Her eyes similarity indicator her mother's same")

4. 你 的 中文 像 他 的 一样 好 nǐ de zhōngwén xiàng tā de yīyàng hǎo ("Your Chinese is as good as his", literally, "Your Chinese similarity indicator his same good")

On the surface, the Chinese sentence structure might seem more complex than the corresponding English one, because it's broken into two parts where a single term might suffice. However, in abstract terms, it has a more uniform approach regardless of the type of comparison being made. You first state how you intend to compare the two entities, and then you follow up with the outcome of the comparison. It's the same whether (1) you're talking about the distance between two places, (2) contrasting two entities, or (3) expressing how two entities are similar.