Mandarin disyllabism for beginners

tā jiǎng dé hěn qīngchǔ 她講得很清楚 tā jiǎng dé fēicháng qīngchǔ 她講得非常清楚

tā jiǎng dé tèbié qīngchǔ 她講得特別清楚 tā jiǎng dé shífēn qīngchǔ 她講得十分清楚

tā jiǎng dé qīngqīngchǔchǔ 她講得清清楚楚 tā jiǎng dé qīngchǔ de bùdéliǎo 她講得清楚得不得了

tā jiǎng dé bùnéng zài qīngchǔle 她講得不能再清楚了 ("She couldn't have explained it more clearly"

All seven sentences say the same thing, "She explained it clearly", with various nuances. This is a language learning game I like to play to show how much flexibility there can be in Mandarin expressions.

 

Selected readings

• "Ask Language Log: Unnecessary disyllabism?" (11/27/17)
• "Ambling, shambling, rambling, wandering, wondering: the spirit of Master Zhuang / Chuang" (7/21/21)
• Perry Link, An Anatomy of Chinese:  Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013),

[Thanks to John Rohsenow]