The category of adjectives consists of lexical items that characteristically represent properties of entities such as dimension, age, color, speed, etc. A full-fledged adjective phrase is typically composed of an adverb and an adjective. This chapter mainly deals with the modifying function of adjectives and adjective phrases.

Defining properties of adjectives

The properties that adjectives characteristically represent include the following:

1. Dimension (e.g., 长 chang2 ‘long,’ 宽 kuan1 ‘wide,’ 高 gao1 ‘tall’).

2. Age (e.g., 老 lao3 ‘old,’ 小 xiao3 ‘young/small,’ 年轻 nian2qing1 ‘young’).

3. Color (e.g., 红 hong2 ‘red,’ 白 bai2 ‘white,’ 绿 lü4 ‘green’).

4. Speed (e.g., 快 kuai4 ‘fast, quick,’ 慢 man4 ‘slow’).

5. Quantity (e.g., 多 duo1 ‘many/more,’ 少 shao3 ‘little/less,’ 足够 zu2gou4 ‘enough’).

6. Value/quality (e.g., 好 hao3 ‘good,’ 坏 huai4 ‘bad,’ 真 zhen1 ‘true,’ 假 jia3 ‘false/fake,’ 奇怪 qi2guai4 ‘strange,’ 重要 zhong4yao4 ‘important,’ 困难 kun4nan2 ‘difficult,’ 简单 jian3dan1 ‘simple’).

7. Personality (e.g., 大方 da4fang1 ‘generous,’ 小气 xiao3qi4 ‘miserly,’ 豪爽 hao2shuang3 ‘forthright,’ 阴险 yin1xian3 ‘sinister’).

8. Emotional, mental, psychological, physical, and physiological states (e.g., 高兴 gao1xing4 ‘glad,’ 恐惧 kong3ju4 ‘scared,’ 糊涂 hu2tu0 ‘confused,’ 冷 leng3 ‘cold,’ 热 re4 ‘hot,’ 疲倦 pi2juan4 ‘fatigued,’ 粗糙 cu1cao1 ‘coarse’).

The predominant function of adjectives is to serve as a prenominal modifier or as the head of a predicate in clauses. The defining properties of adjectives include the following:

1. Adjectives have no morphological markings for gender, number, case, tense, or any other functional features. The main morphological derivation that adjectives undergo is partial or total reduplication, which results not in new word classes but in more vivid, intensified, and mitigated meanings and different syntactic functions (see section 10.3.2.).

2. When performing a modifying function, adjectives and adjective phrases always appear before nouns. Derived adjectives, namely those formed via derivational processes such as reduplication and affixation (see section 10.3.2.), typically work as part of a 的 de0 ‘DE’ (attributive marker) phrase that modifies nouns, for example, 圆圆的脸 yuan2yuan2 de0 lian3 ‘roundish face’ and 干巴巴的饼干 gan1ba1ba1 de0 bing3gan1 ‘dreadfully dry biscuit.’ Non-derived adjectives are of two categories, each with distinct syntactic properties. Compound adjectives with an adverbial modifier generally require a 的 de0 ‘DE’ (attributive marker) when modifying nouns, such as those in 雪白的衬衫 xue3bai2 de0 chen4shan1 ‘snow-white shirt’ and 崭新的 玩具 zhan3xin1 de0 wan2ju4 ‘brand-new toy.’