<p>There are a few general points on the order:</p>

<ul>
<li>words with <strong>two or more characters</strong> should be further away than single character words</li>
<li>phrases/words <strong>ending in <code>的</code></strong> should be further from those without</li>
<li>the <strong>type/class/make/category</strong> of the described noun should be right next to it</li>
</ul>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><strong><code>漂亮的</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> pretty) <strong><code>新</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> new) <strong><code>丝绸</code></strong> (<em>dress' type</em> silk) <strong><code>晚</code></strong> (<em>dress' style</em> evening) <strong><code>礼服</code></strong> (<em>noun</em> dress)</p></li>
<li><p><strong><code>新的</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> new) <strong><code>漂亮</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> pretty) <strong><code>丝绸</code></strong> (<em>dress' type</em> silk) <strong><code>晚</code></strong> (<em>dress' style</em> evening) <strong><code>礼服</code></strong> (<em>noun</em> dress)</p></li>
<li><p><strong><code>丝绸的</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> silken) <strong><code>漂亮</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> pretty) <strong><code>新</code><sup>(see note)</sup></strong> (<em>adjective</em> new) <strong><code>礼服</code></strong> (<em>noun</em> dress)</p></li>
<li><p><strong><code>丝绸的</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> silken) <strong><code>漂亮</code></strong> (<em>adjective</em> pretty) <strong><code>晚</code></strong> (<em>dress' style</em> evening) <strong><code>礼服</code></strong> (<em>noun</em> dress)</p></li>
</ul>

<p><strong><sup>Note:</sup></strong> <sup><em>Avoid putting two single character words next to each other.</em></sup></p>

<p><strong><sup>Note Two:</sup></strong> <sup><em>Actually, avoid squeezing so many adjectives into a sentence in the first place.</em></sup></p>

<p>The question's example of <code>又新又漂亮</code> is an entirely different situation. That's because it is using the syntax <code>又 X 又 Y</code>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-19T15:13:20.413Z
Thanks, some interesting ideas. Not sure about two single character words next to each other - how about 小白马?
Simon D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-19T15:17:18.430Z
@SimonD I don't mean to suggest that you can't have two single character words ever - just that it tends to start sounding awkward, especially when the sentence is already so full.
Semaphore
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-20T13:17:06.357Z
又X又Y has a similar problem: "又矮又丑" has about twice as many search results as "又丑又矮"...
Simon D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-20T14:34:16.203Z
@SimonD It's not a real problem. Both are equally valid. That's why results still number in the hundreds of thousands. It's like `grey` vs `gray`.
Semaphore
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-21T07:23:00.147Z
@SimonD the order in 又矮又丑 is a semantic thing, which has a lot to do with culture but not so much with grammar.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-19T14:52:46.290Z
2014-08-19T14:58:34.180Z
2014-08-19T14:58:34.180Z
Semaphore
<p>I'm afraid that there is no easy answer to this question. I searched with keywords 汉语+形容词连用顺序 and found an article 《<a href="http://www.xzbu.com/4/view-3178897.htm" rel="nofollow">现代汉语多个形容词定语短语的定语顺序</a>》discussing exactly the same question. The article mentions that some scholars speculate that there seems to be some kind of rules and they've analyzed different scenarios from various approaches and made explanations but still no affirmative rules could be summarized.</p>

<p>Take 小白马 as an example which Simon D mentioned in a comment. Why don't we Chinese say 白小马? Why does it become 白色的小马 instead of 小的白色马 if we use 白色 instead of 白? As a native Chinese speaker, I'm amused by thinking of such questions and no doubt a Chinese learner will be confused. But that's part of the fun of language learning, right?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-20T10:01:37.770Z
2014-08-25T05:50:09.007Z
2014-08-25T05:50:09.007Z
wind rose
<p>I don't think we will use so many adjectives in Chinese.  Usually we will use alternative sentence structure to overcome such situations depending on the original English sentence.  For example, for "There are two beautiful new green silk evening dress in the display window", we may say "廚窗裡那兩套新的綠色絲質晚裝真漂亮".</p>

<p>BTW, "sleepy" is (/can be translated as) "睏倦" in Traditional Chinese, whereas "困倦" means weary.  In Simplified Chinese, "睏" is simplified as "困" as well.  As a result, you need to deduce the meaning of "困倦" by the context of the whole sentence.</p>

<p>Edit(1): As for the order of adjectives, the general rule is the more specific the nearer to the noun, but those with the form "XXX色" or "XXX的" are put further away; and the quantity is put the furthest.  For example, we say "一朵小紅花" or "一朵紅色小花".  </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T16:20:14.550Z
睏倦 is the same as 困倦 according to https://www.moedict.tw/睏倦 Both mean weary.
thyu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-20T12:37:24.477Z
2014-08-20T23:49:24.023Z
2014-08-20T23:49:24.023Z
Henry HO
<p>I remembered seeing something like this in "Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar" (Yip and Rimmington) and checked it. They have the following order:</p>

<pre><code>Possession
Location
Time
Scope
Numeral + MW
State or Activity
Characteristics
Shape
Colour
Material
Function
</code></pre>

<p>Their example is 他鞋架上去年那(一)双穿了又穿(的)破破烂烂的尖头的黑色棉布拖鞋.</p>

<p>Checked another grammar book 现代汉语使用语法分析 on Google Books (<a href="http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=A6_NII-r8UMC&amp;pg=PR3#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=A6_NII-r8UMC&amp;pg=PR3#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false</a>) and it has another order:</p>

<pre><code>领属代词
数量词
动词结构
副词
形容词
名词
名词
</code></pre>

<p>Examples are 朋友送给我的一双从上海买来的非常漂亮的意大利名牌皮鞋 and 老师给我推荐的一本最近出版的非常好用的汉语词典.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-23T17:05:16.800Z
2014-08-23T17:17:07.427Z
2014-08-23T17:17:07.427Z
Simon D
<p>The adjectives can go in any order as long as they are before the noun. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-19T14:48:48.167Z
Thanks, but do you have a reference or can you elaborate a little. "褐色小球" - 284,000 results in Google, "小褐色球" - 384 results: I would consider both grammatically correct but clearly the former is much more common, much like the opposite order "small brown ball" is more common in English.
Simon D
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-19T14:00:38.827Z
2014-08-19T14:00:38.827Z
theK_S
<p>See <a href="https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/what-is-the-rule-for-adjective-order">https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/what-is-the-rule-for-adjective-order</a> for the equivalent question in English. I didn't find any discussion online of the order for multiple Chinese adjectives.</p>

<p>Searching for people asking the equivalent question for English in Chinese, there are some example sentences, for example at <a href="http://jingyan.baidu.com/article/fedf07371d781e35ac89773b.html" rel="noreferrer">http://jingyan.baidu.com/article/fedf07371d781e35ac89773b.html</a> we have:</p>

<p>two beautiful new green silk evening dress 两件又新又漂亮的丝绸女士晚礼服
that hungry, tired, sleepy little match girl 那个饥饿、疲劳、困倦的卖火柴的小女孩
an old large brick dining hall 一个旧的红砖砌的大餐厅</p>

<p>It can be seen that the order is slightly different - 新 comes before 漂亮, 小 after 卖火柴,  红砖砌 before 大 as opposed to beautiful before new, match after little, large before brick. Are there standard rules in Chinese?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-27T06:24:10.687Z
I stumbled upon [this tabulation](https://i.sstatic.net/X8lKF.png) in [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5a4uD3uMY).  (I also found a Coursera video: [多项定语的顺序](https://zh.coursera.org/lecture/hanyu-yufa/ke-shi-2-duo-xiang-ding-yu-de-shun-xu-fk9QQ).)
Becky 李蓓
<grammar><adjectives>
What are the rules in Chinese for adjective order when multiple adjectives describe a noun
# What are the rules in Chinese for adjective order when multiple adjectives describe a noun

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-19)

See <https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/what-is-the-rule-for-adjective-order> for the equivalent question in English. I didn't find any discussion online of the order for multiple Chinese adjectives.

Searching for people asking the equivalent question for English in Chinese, there are some example sentences, for example at <http://jingyan.baidu.com/article/fedf07371d781e35ac89773b.html> we have:

two beautiful new green silk evening dress 两件又新又漂亮的丝绸女士晚礼服
that hungry, tired, sleepy little match girl 那个饥饿、疲劳、困倦的卖火柴的小女孩
an old large brick dining hall 一个旧的红砖砌的大餐厅

It can be seen that the order is slightly different - 新 comes before 漂亮, 小 after 卖火柴, 红砖砌 before 大 as opposed to beautiful before new, match after little, large before brick. Are there standard rules in Chinese?

**Tags:** grammar, adjectives

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I stumbled upon [this tabulation](https://i.sstatic.net/X8lKF.png) in [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5a4uD3uMY).  (I also found a Coursera video: [多项定语的顺序](https://zh.coursera.org/lecture/hanyu-yufa/ke-shi-2-duo-xiang-ding-yu-de-shun-xu-fk9QQ).)  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-08-19. Score: 9

There are a few general points on the order:

* words with **two or more characters** should be further away than single character words
* phrases/words **ending in `的`** should be further from those without
* the **type/class/make/category** of the described noun should be right next to it

For example:

* **`漂亮的`** (*adjective* pretty) **`新`** (*adjective* new) **`丝绸`** (*dress' type* silk) **`晚`** (*dress' style* evening) **`礼服`** (*noun* dress)
* **`新的`** (*adjective* new) **`漂亮`** (*adjective* pretty) **`丝绸`** (*dress' type* silk) **`晚`** (*dress' style* evening) **`礼服`** (*noun* dress)
* **`丝绸的`** (*adjective* silken) **`漂亮`** (*adjective* pretty) **`新`(see note)** (*adjective* new) **`礼服`** (*noun* dress)
* **`丝绸的`** (*adjective* silken) **`漂亮`** (*adjective* pretty) **`晚`** (*dress' style* evening) **`礼服`** (*noun* dress)

**Note:** *Avoid putting two single character words next to each other.*

**Note Two:** *Actually, avoid squeezing so many adjectives into a sentence in the first place.*

The question's example of `又新又漂亮` is an entirely different situation. That's because it is using the syntax `又 X 又 Y`.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks, some interesting ideas. Not sure about two single character words next to each other - how about 小白马?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 I don't mean to suggest that you can't have two single character words ever - just that it tends to start sounding awkward, especially when the sentence is already so full.  
> **username_0**: 又X又Y has a similar problem: "又矮又丑" has about twice as many search results as "又丑又矮"...  
> **username_2**: @username_0 It's not a real problem. Both are equally valid. That's why results still number in the hundreds of thousands. It's like `grey` vs `gray`.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 the order in 又矮又丑 is a semantic thing, which has a lot to do with culture but not so much with grammar.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-08-20. Score: 6

I'm afraid that there is no easy answer to this question. I searched with keywords 汉语+形容词连用顺序 and found an article 《[现代汉语多个形容词定语短语的定语顺序](http://www.xzbu.com/4/view-3178897.htm)》discussing exactly the same question. The article mentions that some scholars speculate that there seems to be some kind of rules and they've analyzed different scenarios from various approaches and made explanations but still no affirmative rules could be summarized.

Take 小白马 as an example which username_0 mentioned in a comment. Why don't we Chinese say 白小马? Why does it become 白色的小马 instead of 小的白色马 if we use 白色 instead of 白? As a native Chinese speaker, I'm amused by thinking of such questions and no doubt a Chinese learner will be confused. But that's part of the fun of language learning, right?


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-08-20. Score: 3

I don't think we will use so many adjectives in Chinese. Usually we will use alternative sentence structure to overcome such situations depending on the original English sentence. For example, for "There are two beautiful new green silk evening dress in the display window", we may say "廚窗裡那兩套新的綠色絲質晚裝真漂亮".

BTW, "sleepy" is (/can be translated as) "睏倦" in Traditional Chinese, whereas "困倦" means weary. In Simplified Chinese, "睏" is simplified as "困" as well. As a result, you need to deduce the meaning of "困倦" by the context of the whole sentence.

Edit(1): As for the order of adjectives, the general rule is the more specific the nearer to the noun, but those with the form "XXX色" or "XXX的" are put further away; and the quantity is put the furthest. For example, we say "一朵小紅花" or "一朵紅色小花".

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: 睏倦 is the same as 困倦 according to https://www.moedict.tw/睏倦 Both mean weary.  

---

### Answer by username_0 on 2014-08-23. Score: 1

I remembered seeing something like this in "Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar" (Yip and Rimmington) and checked it. They have the following order:

```
Possession
Location
Time
Scope
Numeral + MW
State or Activity
Characteristics
Shape
Colour
Material
Function

```

Their example is 他鞋架上去年那(一)双穿了又穿(的)破破烂烂的尖头的黑色棉布拖鞋.

Checked another grammar book 现代汉语使用语法分析 on Google Books (<http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=A6_NII-r8UMC&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false>) and it has another order:

```
领属代词
数量词
动词结构
副词
形容词
名词
名词

```

Examples are 朋友送给我的一双从上海买来的非常漂亮的意大利名牌皮鞋 and 老师给我推荐的一本最近出版的非常好用的汉语词典.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-08-19. Score: -1

The adjectives can go in any order as long as they are before the noun.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks, but do you have a reference or can you elaborate a little. "褐色小球" - 284,000 results in Google, "小褐色球" - 384 results: I would consider both grammatically correct but clearly the former is much more common, much like the opposite order "small brown ball" is more common in English.  

---

