<p>我不比她差
Normal structure</p>

<p>我比他不差
To emphasize you are <strong>not</strong> less...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T17:12:04.043Z
2016-05-18T17:12:04.043Z
sfy
<p>Think of it this way,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>我比他不差 - I compared with her is not worse</p>
<p>我不比她差 - I am not worse than her</p>
</blockquote>
<p>both are correct, but the latter sounds more colloquially correct.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-08T08:11:27.190Z
2016-06-08T08:11:27.190Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
stephw
<p>It's all the same on meaning, to understanding...</p>

<p>我比她差
= I'm worse than her.</p>

<p>我<strong>不</strong>比她差
= I'm [<em>not</em> (worse than her)].  --We normally use this structure.</p>

<p>我比她<strong>不差</strong>
= I'm (<em>not worse</em>) than her.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-11T14:08:44.817Z
2016-06-11T14:08:44.817Z
a_a
<p>Judging from a native speaker point of view, use '我不比她差' only.<br>
'我比她不差' doesn't make sense in Chinese, as no one uses '我比她'+ '不' + adjective.  </p>

<p>When you want to say 'I am better than her', say '我比她好' instead of '我比她不差'
When using '我比她' + adjective, don't use '不' in front of the adjective; native people don't understand it and don't use it like that.</p>

<p>When you want to say 'I am not worst than her', say '我不比她差'.</p>

<p>More example: When you want to say 'I am taller than her', say '我比她高' instead of '我比她不矮'</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-25T02:49:46.483Z
Well, I'm a native speaker as well, and I'm a Hakka, the usage of "我比她不差" may be uncommon in my hometown, but people do say so and understand. In fact, I think it's just a habit of word choosing here. 不差 ＝ as good as
thinwa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-25T03:13:59.370Z
@user2550062; "我比她不差" is rarely spoken in mainstream Chinese. I have never heard of people say like this in my life. Most people here are beginners to Chinese. I wouldn't recommend anyone to learn something that's not used by the majority of people.
Eric Luo
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-27T22:32:06.747Z
I agree. Jay Chou's songs sometimes have this reverse order lyrics though.
Timtianyang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-30T11:22:29.587Z
why I think the statement "我比她不差" has meaning of emphasis and enthusiastic, but "我不比她差" has meaning of compromise and passive.
Zack Ni
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T03:48:45.200Z
2016-05-24T18:31:56.723Z
2016-05-24T18:31:56.723Z
Eric Luo
<p>I have a question about making comparisons in Chinese.</p>

<p>What's the difference between saying '我不比她差' and '我比她不差'?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T12:13:32.000Z
我不比她差 I am (was) not more off(something, the mark e.g.)(wrong, deficient) than she. 我比她不差 I am more not, i.e. less off/wrong/deficient/lacking than she, , meaning of 不差 depends on context (could mean e.g. "having paid up"),
i.e. taken literally the first might mean "not worse", the second " (somewhat) better"
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T12:28:40.567Z
不比+NP+形 not more 形 than NP，比＋NP＋不形，more not（i.e. less)  形 than NP
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T03:43:02.517Z
形 in preceding comment stands for (predicatively used) adjective, for greater generality replace 形 by 谓语 （predicate), note that e.g. 汉语水平考试词典 classifies 差 as 动词性, NP stands for "noun phrase" (including pronouns)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T04:44:03.477Z
when looking for examples of 比不 users might conclude我比她不差 might be part of 我比她不差(还要)好 which might itself be an abbreviation of 我不差比她不差(还要)好 which seems not to be uncommon
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T07:47:23.173Z
不差 can mean ＂not bad; OK＂，can be used similarly as
不错，thus speaker may not think of it as negation of
something negative, and thus 我比她不差 may be quite acceptable, just as 我比她不错 may be (I am more OK than she)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T12:40:31.730Z
Although: "the adjective used in the comparison should be positive, not negative" (see e.g. https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Basic_comparisons_with_%22bi%22) it appears that ＂不差、不错＂ are not felt to be negative.
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-25T02:44:07.253Z
@user6065 why not post your answer as a "answer"?
thinwa
<grammar><difference>
What's the difference between saying '我不比她差' and '我比她不差'?
# What's the difference between saying '我不比她差' and '我比她不差'?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-18)

I have a question about making comparisons in Chinese.

What's the difference between saying '我不比她差' and '我比她不差'?

**Tags:** grammar, difference

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 我不比她差 I am (was) not more off(something, the mark e.g.)(wrong, deficient) than she. 我比她不差 I am more not, i.e. less off/wrong/deficient/lacking than she, , meaning of 不差 depends on context (could mean e.g. "having paid up"), i.e. taken literally the first might mean "not worse", the second " (somewhat) better"  
> **username_1**: 不比+NP+形 not more 形 than NP，比＋NP＋不形，more not（i.e. less)  形 than NP  
> **username_1**: 形 in preceding comment stands for (predicatively used) adjective, for greater generality replace 形 by 谓语 （predicate), note that e.g. 汉语水平考试词典 classifies 差 as 动词性, NP stands for "noun phrase" (including pronouns)  
> **username_1**: when looking for examples of 比不 users might conclude我比她不差 might be part of 我比她不差(还要)好 which might itself be an abbreviation of 我不差比她不差(还要)好 which seems not to be uncommon  
> **username_1**: 不差 can mean ＂not bad; OK＂，can be used similarly as 不错，thus speaker may not think of it as negation of something negative, and thus 我比她不差 may be quite acceptable, just as 我比她不错 may be (I am more OK than she)  
> **username_1**: Although: "the adjective used in the comparison should be positive, not negative" (see e.g. https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Basic_comparisons_with_%22bi%22) it appears that ＂不差、不错＂ are not felt to be negative.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 why not post your answer as a "answer"?  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2016-05-19. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Judging from a native speaker point of view, use '我不比她差' only.  
'我比她不差' doesn't make sense in Chinese, as no one uses '我比她'+ '不' + adjective.

When you want to say 'I am better than her', say '我比她好' instead of '我比她不差'
When using '我比她' + adjective, don't use '不' in front of the adjective; native people don't understand it and don't use it like that.

When you want to say 'I am not worst than her', say '我不比她差'.

More example: When you want to say 'I am taller than her', say '我比她高' instead of '我比她不矮'

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Well, I'm a native speaker as well, and I'm a Hakka, the usage of "我比她不差" may be uncommon in my hometown, but people do say so and understand. In fact, I think it's just a habit of word choosing here. 不差 ＝ as good as  
> **username_6**: @user2550062; "我比她不差" is rarely spoken in mainstream Chinese. I have never heard of people say like this in my life. Most people here are beginners to Chinese. I wouldn't recommend anyone to learn something that's not used by the majority of people.  
> **username_7**: I agree. Jay Chou's songs sometimes have this reverse order lyrics though.  
> **username_8**: why I think the statement "我比她不差" has meaning of emphasis and enthusiastic, but "我不比她差" has meaning of compromise and passive.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-05-18. Score: 0

我不比她差
Normal structure

我比他不差
To emphasize you are **not** less...


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### Answer by username_4 on 2016-06-08. Score: 0

Think of it this way,

> 我比他不差 - I compared with her is not worse
>
> 我不比她差 - I am not worse than her

both are correct, but the latter sounds more colloquially correct.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2016-06-11. Score: 0

It's all the same on meaning, to understanding...

我比她差
= I'm worse than her.

我**不**比她差
= I'm [*not* (worse than her)]. --We normally use this structure.

我比她**不差**
= I'm (*not worse*) than her.


---

