Mandarin · Chapter 2 · Lesson 3 · Grammar primer
Comparatives
Prescribed by the AQA specification.
The short version
The negative of 比 (bǐ) is not 不比 (bù bǐ)
A 比 (bǐ) comparison takes a bare adjective with no 很 (hěn): 我比他高 (wǒ bǐ tā gāo). To flip it you need a different frame entirely, 没有 (méi yǒu)…那么 (nà me): 我没有他那么高 (wǒ méi yǒu tā nà me gāo). The obvious-looking 不比 (bù bǐ) sounds genuinely odd in Mandarin, and it is exactly the form learners reach for instinctively.
我没有他那么高。 Wǒ méi yǒu tā nà me gāo.
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Lesson 3 of 13 in this chapter