Questions & Answers about wǒ gēge hěn gāo.
的 is the usual possessive marker (like ’s in English), but it is often omitted with very close relationships, especially family members and close friends.
- 我哥哥 = my older brother (natural, close relationship)
- 我的哥哥 is also correct, but can sound a bit more formal, distant, or contrastive (e.g. when emphasizing my brother, not someone else’s).
With longer phrases, 的 comes back:
- 我在北京的哥哥 – my older brother who is in Beijing
It’s not wrong; it’s grammatical.
- 我哥哥很高 – most natural in everyday speech.
- 我的哥哥很高 – correct, but sounds a bit more formal, explanatory, or contrastive (for example when introducing him in a longer explanation).
For a simple neutral statement, native speakers normally prefer 我哥哥很高.
Literally, 很 means “very”, but in sentences like 我哥哥很高, it often does not feel as strong as English “very.”
In modern spoken Chinese, 很 frequently works as a default adverb before adjectives, making the sentence feel natural and non-contrastive. Depending on context, 很高 can mean:
- neutral description: “is tall” / “is pretty tall”
- mildly emphatic: “is quite tall”
- only in clearly emphatic contexts: “is very tall”
So you should usually put 很 (or another degree word) before an adjective when simply describing someone.
In Chinese, 是 is normally used between two nouns or noun-like phrases, not directly before a plain adjective.
- Correct: 他是老师。 – He is a teacher.
- Natural: 他很高。 – He is tall.
- Odd in normal description: 他是高。
他是高 only works in special, emphatic contexts, like correcting someone:
- 他说他不高，他是高！ – He says he’s not tall, but he is tall!
For a straightforward description, use Subject + 很 + Adjective, not Subject + 是 + Adjective.
我哥哥是很高 is not the neutral way to say “my older brother is tall.”
Adding 是 before 很高 makes it strongly emphatic or contrastive, something like:
- “My older brother really is very tall (you know).”
- “As for my older brother, he is very tall.”
In everyday neutral description, you should say 我哥哥很高.
Yes. Many adjectives in Chinese act like stative verbs (verbs that describe a state).
So 高 by itself can function as “to be tall”:
- 他高。 – (literally) He tall / He is tall.
- 天气冷。 – The weather is cold.
- 我累。 – I am tired.
However, in normal, non-contrastive speech, people usually add a degree word like 很:
- 他很高。
- 天气很冷。
- 我很累。
So you can think of 高 as “tall / to be tall” depending on where it appears.
You can, but it usually sounds contrastive or evaluative, not just neutral description.
- 我哥哥高。 often implies something like
“My older brother is tall (unlike what you might think / compared to others).”
For a simple, neutral statement “My older brother is tall,” native speakers strongly prefer 我哥哥很高 (or 挺高的, 蛮高的, etc.).
Yes. 哥哥 specifically means older brother – a male sibling older than you.
Chinese normally distinguishes:
- 哥哥 – older brother
- 弟弟 – younger brother
There is no single everyday word that just means “brother” without age, like English. If you need a general term, you might see:
- 兄弟 – brothers / male siblings (collectively)
- 兄长 (formal) – elder brother
In daily speech, 哥哥 is for a male who is older than you (or sometimes used affectionately for slightly older males).
The second syllable in 哥哥 is pronounced with a neutral tone.
- The underlying tone of 哥 is first tone (gē).
- But in many reduplicated family terms and common words, the second syllable becomes neutral:
- 妈妈: māma
- 爸爸: bàba
- 哥哥: gēge
A neutral tone is short, light, and has no fixed pitch contour. So 哥哥 is pronounced gē·ge (first tone + neutral tone).
我 is written as third tone (wǒ).
When a third tone is followed by a non–third tone, it’s usually pronounced as a half third tone: low, without a full rising curve. So:
- Written: wǒ gēge
- Spoken: wǒ is low and short, then gē is a clear first tone.
You don’t change it to a second tone here; you just don’t fully dip and rise. For beginners, aiming for a short, low third tone before gē is good enough.
It can mean either, depending on context, because Chinese nouns are usually not marked for plural unless needed.
- If you have only one older brother, 我哥哥 = my older brother.
- If you have several, and the context is clear, 我哥哥 could mean “my older brothers” collectively.
To make plural explicit, you can say:
- 我几个哥哥 – my several older brothers / my brothers (number unspecified but plural)
- 我三个哥哥 – my three older brothers
In most beginner contexts, 我哥哥 will naturally be understood as singular.
In Chinese, when an adjective is the main predicate, the structure is:
- Subject + (degree word) + Adjective
- 我哥哥很高。 – My older brother is tall.
When an adjective modifies a noun directly, it usually comes before the noun with 的:
- 高的哥哥 – a tall older brother
- 高个子哥哥 – a tall older brother (literally “tall-build older brother”)
So:
- 我哥哥很高。 – predicate adjective, goes at the end.
- 我高个子哥哥 (or 我高的哥哥) – attributive adjective, goes before the noun.
You use a measure word when there is a number (or sometimes certain quantifiers).
- With a number:
- 我有一个哥哥。 – I have one older brother.
- 我有两个哥哥。 – I have two older brothers.
In 我哥哥很高, there is no number; you’re just talking about a specific known person (“my older brother”), so no measure word is needed.
Pattern:
- [Number] + [Measure] + Noun → needs a measure word
- [Possessive] + Noun (no number) → no measure word
高 means “high / tall” in a general sense and is used in many contexts:
Height:
- 他很高。 – He is tall.
- 这座楼很高。 – This building is tall.
Level, degree, or amount:
- 价格很高。 – The price is high.
- 温度很高。 – The temperature is high.
- 水平很高。 – The (skill) level is high.
The meaning is always related to height, level, or degree being high.