比较句
Comparison

“他比我高”“今天比昨天热”“我跟他一样大”“他是我们班最高的”——这些句子你从第五级就会说了。汉语的比较不靠形容词变形，全靠几个虚词：比、跟……一样、最、没有。今天把它们放在一起看，这一类句子叫比较句。

You have been saying 他比我高, 今天比昨天热, 我跟他一样大 and 他是我们班最高的 since level 5. Chinese never touches the adjective — there is no -er and no -est. Comparison is done entirely by function words: 比, 跟…一样, 最, 没有. This lesson lays them out as one system, the 比较句.

第三级里你学过：形容词作谓语要有“很”，因为光说“他高”听着像在跟别人比。比较句里比的对象已经说出来了，“很”就多余了，所以“他比我很高”不通。“更”“还”不一样，它们的意思是“在这个基础上再多一点”，跟“比”配合得很好。

Level 3 taught you that a predicate adjective needs 很, because bare 他高 already sounds like a comparison waiting to happen. In a 比 sentence the thing compared is named outright, so 很 has no work left — 他比我很高 is simply ungrammatical. 更 and 还 are different: they mean 'more still, on top of that', which is exactly what 比 wants.

这个位置是固定的：先说比什么，再说怎么样，最后说差多少，不能提到前面去。动作也可以比，那时候要用“得”：“他比我跑得快”，或者“他跑得比我快”，两种说法都对。

The order is fixed: what is compared, then how, then by how much. English says 'three years older' with the amount first; Chinese says 大三岁 with the amount last. Actions can be compared too, and then the complement particle 得 does the work: 他比我跑得快 or 他跑得比我快, both correct.

“跟”也可以换成“和”“同”，意思一样。“一样”后面可以跟形容词，也可以什么都不跟：“他们两个一样。”另外还有一个“有”，表示达到某个标准：“我有他那么高。”记住这个“有”，下一条的否定式就是从它来的。

跟 swaps freely with 和 or 同, with no change of meaning. 一样 may take an adjective or stand alone: 他们两个一样. There is also 有 for reaching a standard — 我有他那么高, 'I am as tall as he is'. Remember that 有: the negative in the next rule is built straight out of it.

口语里“比”的否定不说“不比”，说“没有”：“我没有他高”“我没有他那么高”。“不比”也有人说，可是意思不一样：“我不比他高”只是说我不超过他，也许两个人差不多。极比的“最”后面常常加一个“的”：“最高的”“最好的”，句子听起来才完整。

In speech the negative of 比 is not 不比 but 没有: 我没有他高, 我没有他那么高. 不比 does exist, but it says something else — 我不比他高 only denies that I exceed him; we may be about the same. With 最, a final 的 usually rounds the sentence off: 最高的, 最好的.