哈囉，大家好！ 哈啰，大家好！ Hello, everyone!
I’m Grace
Have you been using “很 very” over and over again?
In this video, I’m going to give you different words
to help you accurately describe the degree or intensity of something
They’ll help you both enrich your Chinese speaking and writing
and you’ll find yourself stop repetitively using “很”
那話不多說，我們現在就開始吧！ 那话不多说，我们现在就开始吧！ Without further ado, let’s get started!
During Chinese New Year,
my friends at Yoyo Chinese are doing a HUGE sale from Today to Feb 5!
Yoyo Chinese is an amazing comprehensive online platform
that I always recommend
because it gives you a very fun and effective Chinese language learning journey
helping you actually learn to speak and understand Chinese!
It has over 1,000 video lessons that are structured into 6 easy-to-follow courses
and during their Chinese New Year sale
you can get access to their entire curriculum for up to 50% off!
Click on the link in the description to sign up for a Yoyo Chinese account
and save big!
We’ll start by learning a few words or phrases for each level of degree
these words can be added before an adjective
to describe the degree of the adjective
For example, 我媽媽超級漂亮 (My mom is super pretty)
超級 is used to describe the intensity of the adjective 漂亮
Now let’s start from words and phrases
that can be used to express a very low degree of intensity
The first one is 稍微有（一）點
or you can say 稍微有點
稍微 and 有（一）點 are two separate words actually,
but we often use them together to mean “slightly” or “a little bit”
This phrase is more often used in speaking
Here is an example
Other than saying “稍微有（一）點”
you can also say “有一點點”
Both “有一點點” and “稍微有（一）點” are very colloquial
we don’t use them in more formal writing
Also, both of these terms are used to point out something rather negative
so we wouldn’t add a positive adjective after them
like “稍微有一點好吃” or “有一點點美麗”
That just sounds weird
When you want to express “a little” or "a bit”
but more than 稍微有一點 and 有一點點
you can use “有一點兒”, the “一” and “兒” are optional
so people may say “有一點”, “有點兒” or simply “有點”
For example,
“有（一）點（兒）” is more often used in speaking
In writing, to sound more formal, we often use “有些”
You might have learned that “有些” means “some”
however it can also be a degree adverb to mean “a little” or “slightly”.
For instance,
To express “to a certain extent or degree”
you can use “挺”, “滿/蠻” or “頗/頗為”
They’re similar to the degree adverbs “quite” and “pretty” in English
“挺” is more often used in China. In Taiwan, we tend to say “滿/蠻”.
For example,
In Taiwan, we would say
You can note that “挺” and “滿/蠻” are often used in the following patterns:
One more thing, these adverbs are pretty colloquial,
so if you want to be more formal in writing, you can use “頗” or “頗為”
For example,
Also note that “頗為” is only added before a two-syllable adjective,
like “嚴重”, “尷尬” or “成功” etc.
Next, You can use the adverb “相當” to express “to a notably large extent”
it’s similar to “considerably” or “significantly” in English
And it’s rather formal so it’s often used in writing
For example, you might read this in a research paper:
When speaking, you can use “好” as a degree adverb to express “to a high extent”.
This word is different from 很
because it shows your subjective thought about something.
It usually involves your emotion, for example,
If you say
It’s more like you’re saying a fact, but if you say
It shows your subjective thought and feeling about this mountain
Because “好” is used to emphasize personal perception
it’s hard to pinpoint where it is on the chart
it can describe a wider range of degree
depending on the context and your intonation.
Here are some words that can be used to express “to a very high degree”
The first one is 真的很
You can add “真的 really” before “很 very” to express a high degree.
For example,
Other than saying “真的很”,
you can also use “非常 extremely” or “超/超級 super”
For instance, you can say
You can replace 真的很 with 非常, 超 or 超級：
Both 真的很 and 超/超級 are very casual and colloquial
To sound more formal, you can use “十分”
For example,
Okay, that’s all for today!
I’d like to thank many of you
who have been supporting me on my ko-fi page
or leaving me heartwarming comments
I’m now doing an internship in the States
and it’s kind of challenging for me to balance my work with this channel
So having your support really means a lot to me
I just want to say thank you!
I hope my videos are helpful for you!
And also, if you would like to learn some daily Mandarin expressions
check out my Instagram @gracemandarin
那我們就下次見囉！掰掰！ 那我们就下次见啰！掰掰！ I’ll see you next time! Bye!