Applying Multiple Adjectives to a Noun

[Bird in a Forest]

Hello everyone,

I was wandering how you add multiple adjectives to the same noun (more than two because I know you could do something like 長的黑頭髮).

For example, how would you say something like: "The big, red, angry, intelligent, fat, hungry, murderous, apple-loving, kung-fu, white-haired, singing whilst laughing, cybernetic monkey"? (Of course for the sake of argument, I don't actually plan to use this word in real life )

Thank you everyone

[MPhillips]

Though it's doesn't have to do with the main part of your question, when referring to hair color or hairstyle as a characteristic feature of a person you should really use 留 instead of 长，as in 留着黑头发的人(a black-haired person)， and use 长 in its literal sense of "to grow" as in 我为什么会长白头发，我才三十岁！(Why am I going gray, I'm only 30!). I'd like to mull over the multiple adjs. question.

[ZhangJiang]

Regarding the hair, 黑色的长发 or 长长的黑发 or 长黑发 are also good to me.

Three adjectives: 漂亮的长黑发 or 漂亮的黑色长发 or 漂亮的、长长的黑发 or 漂亮漆黑的长发

Four: 柔顺、漂亮的长黑发 or 柔顺、漂亮、漆黑的长发

It seems that the adjectives can be added in a row (in some sequence) with 的 to the noun and one or two adjectives can form a compact with the noun(without 的).

The big, red, angry, intelligent, fat, hungry, murderous, apple-loving, kung-fu, white-haired, singing whilst laughing, cybernetic monkey

大的、红的、生气的、机智的、胖的、饥饿的、凶残的、喜爱苹果的、会功夫的、又唱又笑的白毛控制论猴 (I don't know what cybernetic means  ,控制论seems wrong here)

庞大、鲜红、愤怒、机智、肥胖、饥饿、凶残、热爱苹果、擅长武术、亦唱亦笑的白毛控制论猴。

It seems the rule is either all with 的 or just one 的, and at least 2 characters for every adjectival part.

[Divato]

大且红 聪慧却又愤怒凶残 胖而饥饿  武术精湛 边唱边笑 的控制论白猴儿

And I think I would simply call it this way, sb 猴子 or 猴子请来的逗比

[Bird in a Forest]

Thank you ZhangJiang, your answer was really helpful.

Do you know what kind of nouns can take an adjective without 的 in front of them? i.e. Can only compound nouns (ones with two or more characters) take adjectives like this and is it always acceptable to get rid of the first character in the compound e.g. 黑髮 instead of 黑頭髮. So would 熱黑茶 be acceptable? Can the noun with the adjectives only be three characters long? So I can say 長黑髮 but not 長黑頭髮.

Also, cybernetic is used to describe something that was originally an animal or human but has become semi-robotic through technology. Like a cyborg. It's a weird monkey.

[Kenny同志]

This may be of interest to you.

 

http://chinese.cersp.com/sYst/200803/6805_2.html 

 

For long black hair, consider using 又長又黑的頭髮.

[Kenny同志]

For long black hair, consider using 又長又黑的頭髮, or 長長的黑髮.

[ZhangJiang]

@Bird in a forest

 

Many nouns have two forms in word length: one character and two characters. Like 头发 and 发, 蔬菜 and 菜, 歌曲 and 歌, they basically mean the same thing. I suppose the longer form is what you called compound nouns. 头 can be left out from 黑头发 is because 头发 and 发 are synonyms.

 

Now let's do the combinations

One character noun with one character adjective:

 

长发、青菜、慢歌 are all good.

 

长黑发、黑长发、嫩青菜、青嫩菜、新慢歌、慢新歌。Actually they are becoming marginal in acceptance. Used after counting words, 一头长黑发/黑长发 and 一颗嫩青菜 seem good. 推出一首新慢歌 is marginal. 青嫩菜 and 慢新歌 are bad. It seems if the last two characters are used together so often that they sort of become a compound, then AdjAdjNou is good.

 

长卷黑发、黑长卷发、脆嫩青菜 seems OK, but they are only used literarily.(See the example below)

 

One character noun with two character adjective:

 

漂亮发、新鲜菜、动听歌。They are not used in sentences, but somehow I feel there are special circumstances in which they will fit.

If the first part is noun, then it seems acceptable, like 外国歌。

 

Two character noun with adjectives:

 

长头发、鲜蔬菜、慢歌曲. 长头发is good, the other two are marginal.

 

黑长头发、鲜青蔬菜、新慢歌曲. Really marginal, almost bad.

 

飘逸头发、新鲜蔬菜、动听歌曲. Good.

 

微卷飘逸头发、可口新鲜蔬菜、清新动听歌曲. Very marginal, 清新而动听的歌曲 is much better.

 

An extreme example of multiple compound(longer than one character) adjectives with a one character noun from Dream of the Red Chamber:

头上戴着 金丝 八宝 攒祝 髻，绾着 朝阳 五凤 挂珠 钗；项上戴着 赤金 盘螭 璎珞 圈，身上穿着 缕金 百蝶 穿花 大红 洋缎 窄褃 袄，外罩 五彩 刻丝 石青 银鼠 褂；下着 翡翠 撒花 洋绉 裙

The words between spaces are modifying parts.

 

Thanks for the explanation of "cybernetic", I think I've watched it in Doctor Who.

[Pedroski]

I love the way Chinese stacks up words and makes them adjectives:

 

在一个单位，

 

在一个 [ 薪水和报酬不公开的]  单位  [adjective]