Lessons 3, 7, 8: Reduplicated measure words and 一年比一年

A reduplicated measure word means "every / each"; 一年比一年 describes a degree that increases over time.

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有汽车的人一年比一年多。

Yǒu qìchē de rén yì nián bǐ yì nián duō.

The number of people with cars grows larger every year.

Explanation

Both nominal measure words and verbal measure words in Chinese can be reduplicated, expressing "all" or "each and every" (每): 张张, 个个, 场场… (numeral-measure combinations such as 一个个 are used this way too: 我看球迷一个个都有点儿不正常)

一年比一年 serves as an adverbial and shows that, as time passes, the degree of change in something keeps increasing. You can also say 一天比一天.

Structure

1
量词重叠（张张、个个、场场……）
Expresses 每 (each, every); usually used with 都.
- 这些照片张张照得都很好。
  Zhèxiē zhàopiàn zhāngzhāng zhào de dōu hěn hǎo.
  Every one of these photos came out well.
- 我们班的同学个个都很努力。
  Wǒmen bān de tóngxué gègè dōu hěn nǔlì.
  Every student in our class is very hard-working.
- 他们跟我们班赛足球场场输。
  Tāmen gēn wǒmen bān sài zúqiú chǎngchǎng shū.
  They lose every game of football against our class.
- 我看球迷一个个都有点儿不正常。
  Wǒ kàn qiúmí yí gègè dōu yǒudiǎnr bú zhèngcháng.
  I think every football fan is a little abnormal.
2
一年比一年 / 一天比一天形容词/动词
As an adverbial: the degree increases over time.
- 有汽车的人一年比一年多。
  Yǒu qìchē de rén yì nián bǐ yì nián duō.
  The number of people with cars grows larger every year.
- 来中国以后，我一天比一天胖。
  Lái Zhōngguó yǐhòu, wǒ yì tiān bǐ yì tiān pàng.
  Since coming to China, I have been getting fatter every day.
- 天气一天比一天凉快了。
  Tiānqì yì tiān bǐ yì tiān liángkuai le.
  The weather is getting cooler day by day.

Practice

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