比一个人聪明
The most basic Chinese comparison: 'A is more [ADJ] than B.' Reach for this anytime you want to say one thing beats another on some quality — smarter, taller, faster, cheaper. The structure is fixed: subject first, then 比, then what you're comparing against, then the adjective. No 'more,' no 'than,' no 'is' — Chinese drops all the English connective fluff. Master this and you've got the engine behind every comparison sentence in the language.
Structure
[A] 比 [B] [ADJ]
bǐ...
How to Think About It
比 is the comparison verb itself — it carries the entire meaning of 'is more...than.' Don't add 更, don't add 是, don't add 很. Just place 比 between the two things and put the adjective at the end bare. English speakers want to say '是比...更聪明' because that's how 'is smarter than' lines up word by word; in Chinese, 比 alone does all the work.
Examples
两个人比一个人聪明。
Liǎng gè rén bǐ yī gè rén cōngmíng.
Two people are smarter than one person.
今天比昨天热。
Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān rè.
Today is hotter than yesterday.
他的中文比我好。
Tā de Zhōngwén bǐ wǒ hǎo.
His Chinese is better than mine.
Common Mistake
Learners insert 很 before the adjective because they learned that adjectives need 很 ('我很高'). In comparison sentences, 很 vanishes — adding it back makes the sentence ungrammatical. 比 + ADJ is the whole package.
两个人比一个人很聪明。
两个人比一个人聪明。
Don't Confuse With
A 比 B 更 [ADJ]
Adds intensity — 'even more X than B,' implying B was already X. Use plain 比 for neutral comparison; add 更 when you want to dial it up.
A 没有 B [ADJ]
The negative version — 'A is not as X as B.' To negate a 比 sentence, you can't say 不比 in most cases; switch to 没有.
A 跟 B 一样 [ADJ]
Says A and B are EQUAL on the quality. Use 跟...一样 when there's no winner; use 比 when there is.
Practice
Fill in: 两个人___一个人聪明。
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比
Fill in: 今天比昨天___。 (hint: hot)
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热
Arrange: 比 / 高 / 我哥哥 / 我
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我哥哥比我高。
Translate: He is taller than I am.
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他比我高。
Write one sentence using A 比 B [ADJ] comparing two people you know.
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我妹妹比我聪明。
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode: