Chinese Grammar: Very & not very with 太

Little Lupishu is growing up! He’s starting to want to give his advice on everything. And as far as he is concerned, everything is too cool! One keyword for that: 太.

Very – excessively – extremely

To express “too” in Chinese, in the sense that something is too cool, too good, too much, there’s one easy word you can use: 太 (tài). In Chinese, you also use 太 to show something is very or extremely good. And don’t worry, you won’t sound ironic like you could in English if you say something is too good.

For instance, you say太好了 to mean something is really great. 太好了, right?

Structure

太 is always placed right before the adjective it describes, just like in English.

太 + Adjective + 了

Remember to always add 了 at the end of this structure, or you’ll sound rather unsophisticated!

Examples

太 贵 了!
It's too expensive!

太好了!
Awesome! (Literally too good!)

这个 手机 太 便宜 了！
This mobile phone is really [too] cheap!

牛奶 太 好喝 了。
Milk is delicious.

Not very

Not feeling very something? Then 太 is also your word! In its negative form, 不 太 means something is "not extremely.."

Structure

Subject + 不 太 + Adjective

As you see, 不 太 works exactly the same way, with the exception that in the negative form, no 了 is needed.

Examples

不太好。
Not very good.

不 太 饿。
I'm not very hungry.

这 杯 咖啡 不 太 好喝。
This coffee doesn't taste very good.

那 件 衣服 不 太 好看。
These clothes don't really look good.

Not very with verbs

不 太 can also be used with some verbs, although not with all. Reserve this pattern for verbs that show your mental state, such as 明白 – understanding, 喜欢 – liking , 想– wanting…

Structure

Subject + 不 太 + Verb

Examples

不 太 喜欢。
I don’t really like it.

不 太 想 去。
I don’t really want to go

这 道 题 我 不 太 懂。
I don't really understand this question.

她 的 丈夫 不 太 喜欢 踢足球。
Her husband doesn't like playing football that much.

太 comes in handy very quickly in China: you use it all the time when haggling to say something is too expensive! 太 贵 了! Too expensive! Or to appreciate when something is cheap: 太 便宜 啊 - So cheap!