<p>You can say in the following two different ways:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>你自己 as the object of 了解. It's like the transit verb case in English. So V+O in normal order.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我(subject) 比你 更 了解(verb) 你自己(object)</p>
</blockquote></li>
<li><p>你自己 as the target of the action. In this case, you need a preposition to specify it is a target.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我(subject) 比你 对你自己(target) 更 了解(verb)</p>
</blockquote></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-20T17:44:16.563Z
would #1 work without 更？ie 我比妳了解妳自己？thanks again!
Crashalot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T01:04:43.207Z
@Crashalot Yes. It works. But it sounds rigid and not natural. But It could be possible if the speaker is expressing some extreme emotions, such as anger, if the speaker is stressing part of the sentence.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T18:01:24.663Z
i suppose the question should be why is 更 required if you already have 比, which already means A is better than B.
Crashalot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T22:47:38.840Z
@Crashalot . Grammatically, 更 is *not* required. It's a valid sentence stating a clear meaning without 更. However, Chinese are sentimental animals. People would always try to infer more information from what it literally states. This sentence, "我比你了解你自己" without 更, may be interpreted as "you do not know yourself", which may sounds rude and offensive for the opponent of the dialog. This is where 更 helps. 更 adds another layer of meaning: "you already know yourself". So the sentence with 更 would not offend anyone.Therefore, the existence of 更 is not for grammatical correctness, but politeness.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T22:56:52.887Z
More generally, when comparing A and B in Chinese, there is always a implicit meaning that A has the feature/ability and B does not have the feature/ability, if the sentence is without 更.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T23:37:07.823Z
Awesome, make so much sense! Thanks for the elaboration.
Crashalot
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T12:24:35.303Z
2017-07-17T12:24:35.303Z
Harry Summer
<p>我比你更了解你自己 is correct. this sentence articulates the structure difference btw Chinese and English.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T02:28:45.743Z
2017-07-17T02:28:45.743Z
dan
<p>According to <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Word_order#Placement_of_place_words_in_a_sentence" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this Chinese grammar guide</a>, the "target" of a verb should precede the verb.</p>

<p>Does this mean the translation of "I know you better than yourself" is 我比你更你自己了解 instead of 我比你更了解你自己?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T01:44:55.193Z
* 我比你更你自己了解 is ungrammatical, some users would say  我比你自己更了解你, these users are unfamiliar with personal pronoun (你)+自己 occurring as object, is 我比你更了解你自己 in a textbook?

 grammar topic：comparison using 比: subject (person or thing to be compared) + adverbial modifier (preposition 比 + (standard of comparison (person or thing)) + predicate (result of comparison) + complement (concrete differences) 更 indicating strong degree is not needed and could be replaced by 还 or 还要
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T02:10:47.850Z
verb could be repeated: 我比你了解自己更了解你 (自己 w/o personal pronoun 你 occurring as object)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T13:57:39.603Z
你自己 can occur as object as in 认识你自己 (Wikipedia),confirmed by ＂实用现代汉语语法＂:我的小孙女宁宁现在已经能照顾她自己了, also in 我比你自己更了解你 你自己 is the object of preposition (or verb)比 , 
thus  我比你更了解你自己 seems definitely valid, strangely enough entering 你自己 into jukuu yields 0 results
user6065
<grammar><mandarin>
Which is the correct grammar: 我比你更了解你自己 or 我比你更你自己了解?
# Which is the correct grammar: 我比你更了解你自己 or 我比你更你自己了解?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-17)

According to [this Chinese grammar guide](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Word_order#Placement_of_place_words_in_a_sentence), the "target" of a verb should precede the verb.

Does this mean the translation of "I know you better than yourself" is 我比你更你自己了解 instead of 我比你更了解你自己?

**Tags:** grammar, mandarin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: * 我比你更你自己了解 is ungrammatical, some users would say  我比你自己更了解你, these users are unfamiliar with personal pronoun (你)+自己 occurring as object, is 我比你更了解你自己 in a textbook?   grammar topic：comparison using 比: subject (person or thing to be compared) + adverbial modifier (preposition 比 + (standard of comparison (person or thing)) + predicate (result of comparison) + complement (concrete differences) 更 indicating strong degree is not needed and could be replaced by 还 or 还要  
> **username_1**: verb could be repeated: 我比你了解自己更了解你 (自己 w/o personal pronoun 你 occurring as object)  
> **username_1**: 你自己 can occur as object as in 认识你自己 (Wikipedia),confirmed by ＂实用现代汉语语法＂:我的小孙女宁宁现在已经能照顾她自己了, also in 我比你自己更了解你 你自己 is the object of preposition (or verb)比 ,  thus  我比你更了解你自己 seems definitely valid, strangely enough entering 你自己 into jukuu yields 0 results  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-07-17. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

You can say in the following two different ways:

1. 你自己 as the object of 了解. It's like the transit verb case in English. So V+O in normal order.

   > 我(subject) 比你 更 了解(verb) 你自己(object)
2. 你自己 as the target of the action. In this case, you need a preposition to specify it is a target.

   > 我(subject) 比你 对你自己(target) 更 了解(verb)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: would #1 work without 更？ie 我比妳了解妳自己？thanks again!  
> **username_2**: @username_0 Yes. It works. But it sounds rigid and not natural. But It could be possible if the speaker is expressing some extreme emotions, such as anger, if the speaker is stressing part of the sentence.  
> **username_0**: i suppose the question should be why is 更 required if you already have 比, which already means A is better than B.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 . Grammatically, 更 is *not* required. It's a valid sentence stating a clear meaning without 更. However, Chinese are sentimental animals. People would always try to infer more information from what it literally states. This sentence, "我比你了解你自己" without 更, may be interpreted as "you do not know yourself", which may sounds rude and offensive for the opponent of the dialog. This is where 更 helps. 更 adds another layer of meaning: "you already know yourself". So the sentence with 更 would not offend anyone.Therefore, the existence of 更 is not for grammatical correctness, but politeness.  
> **username_2**: More generally, when comparing A and B in Chinese, there is always a implicit meaning that A has the feature/ability and B does not have the feature/ability, if the sentence is without 更.  
> **username_0**: Awesome, make so much sense! Thanks for the elaboration.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-07-17. Score: 0

我比你更了解你自己 is correct. this sentence articulates the structure difference btw Chinese and English.


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