Chinese word

不大

Pronunciation

Pinyinbù dà

Meaning

  • adverbnot very

Example

我不大明白这个问题。wǒ bú dà míng bái zhè ge wèn tí

I do not understand this question very well.

Illustration for 不大 (not very)

More examples

她不大说话。tā bú dà shuō huà

She does not talk very much.

Core concept

A small reduction in how strongly an action or quality is presented.

Similar words

不太bú tài: Shows in a gentle way that an action or quality is not very strong or extensive.
不是很bú shì hěn: Says in a restrained way that an action or quality does not reach a full degree.

Definition in Chinese

用于降低对动作或性质的评价，通常置于谓语之前，表示并非很或不太的程度。yòng yú jiàng dī duì dòng zuò huò xìng zhì dì píng jià tōng cháng zhì yú wèi yǔ zhī qián biǎo shì bìng fēi hěn huò bú tài de chéng dù

Word origin

The literal image of 不 (bù, "not") + 大 (dà, "big") shifts from physical size to the strength or extent of what follows.

Usage tips

  • Chinese places this degree marker directly before the word it affects, including a verb, which differs from the usual position of similar modifiers in English.

Opposites

Word lists with this word