"As ... as possible" in Mandarin Chinese
<img class="alignright size-full” title="“As … as possible” in Mandarin: 越 … 越好” src=”/img/2011/10/yue-adj-yue-hao.jpg” alt="越 [adj] 越好” />It’s not immediately obvious how to say things like “as soon as possible” and “as fast as possible” in Mandarin, as there isn’t a direct translation.
The way to express it is actually to say “the more … the better”. Pragmatically this is the same, and the structure is easy to use:
越 [adj] 越好This is the structure for “as … as possible” in Mandarin. You just say 越, an adjective and then 越好.
Some examples:
越*快*越好 Yuè kuài yuè hǎo As soon as possible
越*慢*越好 Yuè màn yuè hǎo As slowly as possible
越*贵*越好 Yuè guì yuè hǎo As expensive as possible
越*便宜*越好 Yuè piányi yuè hǎo As cheap as possible
越*多*越好 Yuè duō yuè hǎo As much as possible
This is a very general structure - pretty much any adjective you like can go in the slot. There _is _another structure that you can use with some specific adjectives, and it’s even simpler still!
The structure is:
尽 [adj]And it’s as simple as that! Normally this is just used with the adjectives 早 and 快, and the meanings are pretty much the same:
尽早 Jǐnzǎo As soon as possible
尽快 Jǐnkuài As quickly as possible
Useful links:
