{"id":3000,"date":"2019-10-29T06:16:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T06:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/reduplication\/"},"modified":"2019-10-29T06:16:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T06:16:56","slug":"reduplication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/reduplication\/","title":{"rendered":"Reduplication"},"content":{"rendered":"
Speakers of Mandarin Chinese often repeat words – a phenomenon known linguistically as reduplication. The most common reduplication is \u8b1d\u8b1d\/\u8c22\u8c22 (xièxie) – thanks.<\/p>\n

Verbs, nouns, and adjectives can be reduplicated in Mandarin Chinese. The function of reduplication is to extend, intensify or soften the meaning of the words.
Reduplicated Verbs<\/p>\n

Mandarin verbs are often reduplicated to soften their brusqueness or to lengthen the action. For example, \u770b\u4e00\u770b (kàn yi kàn) can mean, "have a look (take your time)". The meaning is similar to \u770b\u4e00\u4e0b (kàn yíxià). <\/p>\n

Verb reduplication can also be done with completed actions:<\/p>\n

    \u6211\u770b\u4e86\u4e00\u770b\u3002
    W\u01d2 kàn le yí kàn.
    I saw it (for a while). <\/p>\n

The \u4e86 le particle indicates that the action occurred in the past and is completed. In this type of sentence construction, the le particle comes after the first verb, and the \u4e00 y\u012b is optional:<\/p>\n

    \u4ed6\u7b49\u4e86(\u4e00)\u7b49\u3002
    T\u0101 d\u011bng le (yì) d\u011bng.
    He waited (a while). <\/p>\n

Adjective Reduplication<\/p>\n

Adjectives may be reduplicated to make them less direct: \u5c0f\u5c0f\u7684 (xi\u01ceo xi\u01ceo de) – a little bit small.<\/p>\n

Adjective reduplication may also be done to intensify the adjective as in \u6f02\u6f02\u4eae\u4eae(pi\u0101o piào liang liàng) – very beautiful. In this example, the adjective is a compound word of two characters \u6f02\u4eae (piào liang), so each character is reduplicated separately.
Compound Reduplication<\/p>\n

The pattern in \u6f02\u6f02\u4eae\u4eae can be described as AABB, but that is not the o<\/em>nly pattern used in compound word reduplication. Other patterns include AAB and ABAB.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the pattern of reduplication can change the meaning: \u9ad8\u8208\u9ad8\u8208 means “have some fun” and \u9ad8\u9ad8\u8208\u8208 means “happy”.
Noun Reduplication<\/p>\n

Nouns are sometimes reduplicated, but less often that verbs or adjectives. Examples of noun reduplication are \u5929\u5929 (ti\u0101n ti\u0101n) – everyday, and \u4eba\u4eba (rénrén) – everyone.<\/p>\n

Noun reduplication is more common in Taiwan and southern China than in Beijing Mandarin.
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