When 大 or 老 is already part of its name

[Altair]

I notice that Chinese sometimes uses words to fill out monosyllables and make them more easily distinguishable as stand alone words. I have been curious about some of the consequences of this and so have asked some illustrative question below about this behavior.

If 一只大象 can mean "an elephant" and 一头大蒜 can mean "a bulb (?) of garlic," how can one say "a big elephant" and "a big bulb of garlic"?

How does one say "old mouse" or "old tiger"? Do you simply repeat 老, or use a different expression?

[xiaoxiajenny]

"a big elephant" and "a big bulb of garlic" 一只很大的大象 一大头蒜

"old mouse" or "old tiger" 一只老老鼠 一只年老的虎

Well, this is hard to say. You guys have better ideas?

[skylee]

"a big elephant" ~ 一隻(很)大的(大)象

"a big bulb of garlic" ~ 一顆(很)大的蒜頭

"a big university" ~ 一所/間(很)大的大學

"an old mouse" ~ 一隻老的老鼠/耗子

"an old tiger" ~ 一隻年老的老虎

"an old teacher" ~ 一位年長/年老的老師

[Altair]

Thanks for the replies. I think I get the hang of it. I suppose that one would similarly say 一件(很)大的大衣.

Now that I think about it, I guess English is not completely immune from this problem. If you have a big brother who is big, you would not want to describe him as a big big brother. You would have to reword the sentence, perhaps by talking about a big brother who really is big or who is huge.

[shibo77]

I have heard of 老老鼠"Old Mouse" but never 大大象"Big Elephant".

-Shìbó