Use ‘mei you’ to make comparison in Chinese

In Chinese, there is another way to make comparisons. You can use 没有 (méiyǒu) to express that something is "not as" as something else.

中文里，还有另一种方式用于表达比较，你可以使用"没有"来表达某物比不上其它。

As well as with 比 (bǐ), you can also use 没有 (méiyǒu) to make basic comparisons. You could think of 没有 (méiyǒu) as the opposite of 比 (bǐ) – it works in the same way, but rather than expressing "more… than…" it expresses "not as… as…":

和用"比"一样，你也可以用"没有"进行基本的比较。你可以把"没有"想成是"比"的反面，用法相同，但不是表达"more…than…"而是"not as…as…"。

Noun 1 + 没有 + Noun 2 + Adj.

In this structure, the noun that's placed first is less "adjective" than the second noun. So in the sentence:

这个结构里，第一个名词比第二个名词比较更不（形容词）。正如下面的句子：

小张没有小李高。

xiǎo zhāng méiyǒu xiǎo lǐ gāo.

Xiao Zhang is not as tall as Xiao Li.

小李 is taller. The same situation could be described as:

小李更高。同样的语境也可以这样形容：

小李没有小张矮。

xiǎo lǐ méiyǒu xiǎo zhāng ǎi.

Xiao Li is not as short as Xiao Zhang.

Examples

火车没有飞机快。

huǒchē méiyǒu fēijī kuài.

Trains are not as fast as airplanes.

他没有他弟弟聪明。

tā méiyǒu tā dìdi cōngming.

He's not as clever as his younger brother.

你们公司没有我们公司大。

nǐmen gōngsī méiyǒu wǒmen gōngsī dà.

Your company is not as big as ours.

坐公交车没有坐地铁方便。

zuò gōngjiāochē méiyǒu zuò dìtiě fāngbiàn.

Taking the bus is not as convenient as taking the metro.

爸爸做的菜没有妈妈做的菜好吃。

bàba zuò de cài méiyǒu māma zuò de cài hǎochī.

The food dad cooks is not as tasty as the food mom cooks. 

Translated from: allsetlearning

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