<p>1， “Adj 不 Adj?” is just a short form for &quot;是不是 Adj 的?&quot;</p>
<p>For example, I drink a lot of wine and want to know if my face turns red, so I ask my friend.</p>
<p>Q: &quot;我的脸红不红？&quot;
A: &quot;你的脸很红。&quot;</p>
<hr />
<p>2， &quot;adj 吗&quot; is an even shorter form.</p>
<p>Q: &quot;我的脸红吗？&quot; A：“你的脸很红。”</p>
<hr />
<p>3， 红 can also be a verb but that means &quot;turns red&quot;, there must be a transition.</p>
<p>Q: &quot;我的脸红没红？&quot;
A: &quot;你的脸红了。&quot;</p>
<p>Ref:
<a href="https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E7%BA%A2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zdict 紅〈动〉(1)</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T00:05:25.327Z
Thank you. Is (B) in my example "...很红。" grammatical? Does "...很红。" need context such as answering a question or making a comparison?
Greg Nisbet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T00:59:27.793Z
@GregoryNisbet I am a little bit confused by the leading question mark in A~C because your A ~ C looks like declarative forms. A and C are not correct, but B is grammatical. Here "很" is not compression and does not need context. 很 means "very" or “really” it is used to confirm the degree of red.
River
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T01:37:22.953Z
I used a leading question mark `? ...` to show that I think the sentence is ungrammatical, sounds strange, or changes the meaning of "你的汽车是红色的". I guessed that (A) is wrong because the predicate is only one syllable. I guessed that (C) is wrong because "...色" must be a noun and can't form a predicate by itself. With (B) I wasn't sure whether adding "很" changes the meaning or not.
Greg Nisbet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T01:46:36.210Z
I laid out my question in a confusing way. `What are the different options for using colors predicatively? Particularly monosyllabic colors like 红, 蓝, 黃 that can appear with or without 色` is the real question. The rest of the question is just an example and my attempt to come up with an alternative to `...是红色的`.
Greg Nisbet
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T01:59:43.053Z
@GregoryNisbet That is clear now. Actually, the question form of A， "你的汽车红吗？"， is correct. I also added that to my answer.
River
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-20T21:50:34.643Z
2020-09-21T02:02:35.960Z
2020-09-21T02:02:35.960Z
River
<p>What are the different options for using colors predicatively? Particularly monosyllabic colors like 红, 蓝, 黃 that can appear with or without 色.</p>
<hr />
<p>For context, here is a sentence using 红色 predicatively taken from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">random Wikipedia article</a>.</p>
<pre><code>你   的    汽车     是不是         红色        的?
ni3  de0  qi4che1  shi4bu2shi4   hong2se4   de0
you  DE   car      COP-not-COP   red        DE
Is your car red?
</code></pre>
<p>The declarative form of this sentence is</p>
<pre><code>你   的    汽车      是        红色        的.
ni3  de0  qi4che1   shi4     hong2se4    de0.
</code></pre>
<p>However, 红 is a verb by itself (unlike 咖啡色).</p>
<p>Is it possible to use 红 as the predicate of that sentence without the 是...的 construction? What are the different ways to use a short color as a predicate?</p>
<p>I can think of a few potential ways to do it, but none of them seem to work.</p>
<pre><code>A) ?你    的   汽车     红
   ?ni3  de0  qi4che1  hong2 
</code></pre>
<p>(A) seems weird because the predicate is only one syllable. I think it breaks a Mandarin prosodic constraint.</p>
<pre><code>B) ?你    的   汽车      很     红
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1   hen3  hong2
</code></pre>
<p>(B) also seems odd, but I can't really say why.</p>
<pre><code>C) ?你    的   汽车      红色
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1  hong2se4.
</code></pre>
<p>(C) seems strange. I'm pretty sure 红色 is a noun and therefore cannot form a predicate by itself.</p>
<p>This question is similar to <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/10466/using-%e8%89%b2-with-colors">this one</a>, but is not a duplicate of it because it's specifically about what things are allowed or disallowed in predicate position and why.</p>

<colors>
Monosyllabic colors names (e.g. 红, 蓝) as predicates with and without 色
# Monosyllabic colors names (e.g. 红, 蓝) as predicates with and without 色

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-20)

What are the different options for using colors predicatively? Particularly monosyllabic colors like 红, 蓝, 黃 that can appear with or without 色.

---

For context, here is a sentence using 红色 predicatively taken from a [random Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)).

```
你   的    汽车     是不是         红色        的?
ni3  de0  qi4che1  shi4bu2shi4   hong2se4   de0
you  DE   car      COP-not-COP   red        DE
Is your car red?

```

The declarative form of this sentence is

```
你   的    汽车      是        红色        的.
ni3  de0  qi4che1   shi4     hong2se4    de0.

```

However, 红 is a verb by itself (unlike 咖啡色).

Is it possible to use 红 as the predicate of that sentence without the 是...的 construction? What are the different ways to use a short color as a predicate?

I can think of a few potential ways to do it, but none of them seem to work.

```
A) ?你    的   汽车     红
   ?ni3  de0  qi4che1  hong2 

```

(A) seems weird because the predicate is only one syllable. I think it breaks a Mandarin prosodic constraint.

```
B) ?你    的   汽车      很     红
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1   hen3  hong2

```

(B) also seems odd, but I can't really say why.

```
C) ?你    的   汽车      红色
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1  hong2se4.

```

(C) seems strange. I'm pretty sure 红色 is a noun and therefore cannot form a predicate by itself.

This question is similar to [this one](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/10466/using-%e8%89%b2-with-colors), but is not a duplicate of it because it's specifically about what things are allowed or disallowed in predicate position and why.

**Tags:** colors


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-09-20. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

1， “Adj 不 Adj?” is just a short form for "是不是 Adj 的?"

For example, I drink a lot of wine and want to know if my face turns red, so I ask my friend.

Q: "我的脸红不红？"
A: "你的脸很红。"

---

2， "adj 吗" is an even shorter form.

Q: "我的脸红吗？" A：“你的脸很红。”

---

3， 红 can also be a verb but that means "turns red", there must be a transition.

Q: "我的脸红没红？"
A: "你的脸红了。"

Ref:
[zdict 紅〈动〉(1)](https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E7%BA%A2)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you. Is (B) in my example "...很红。" grammatical? Does "...很红。" need context such as answering a question or making a comparison?  
> **username_1**: @GregoryNisbet I am a little bit confused by the leading question mark in A~C because your A ~ C looks like declarative forms. A and C are not correct, but B is grammatical. Here "很" is not compression and does not need context. 很 means "very" or “really” it is used to confirm the degree of red.  
> **username_0**: I used a leading question mark `? ...` to show that I think the sentence is ungrammatical, sounds strange, or changes the meaning of "你的汽车是红色的". I guessed that (A) is wrong because the predicate is only one syllable. I guessed that (C) is wrong because "...色" must be a noun and can't form a predicate by itself. With (B) I wasn't sure whether adding "很" changes the meaning or not.  
> **username_0**: I laid out my question in a confusing way. `What are the different options for using colors predicatively? Particularly monosyllabic colors like 红, 蓝, 黃 that can appear with or without 色` is the real question. The rest of the question is just an example and my attempt to come up with an alternative to `...是红色的`.  
> **username_1**: @GregoryNisbet That is clear now. Actually, the question form of A， "你的汽车红吗？"， is correct. I also added that to my answer.  

---

