# 显+monosyllablic adjective / 显得+disyllabic adjective



## lautaro

大家好！ 

我一点糊涂用显+形容词。

例如：
*A: 你叫我“老马”呢？五年没见了，我真的显老吗？*
B: *中国人称呼比自己大的朋友，一般是在姓前面加上一个“老”字。像“老张”啊，“老王”啊，叫你“老马”，显得亲热！*

my teacher said I shall use 显+one word adjective and 显得+two words adjective but my try was 她显得生病了 (she seems to be ill) and she said it was wrong. The right sentence is 她看起来病了. Maybe it is because 生病 means to fall ill and not ill, is it? But 显得很着急then？

As usual, many thanks to all your responses.

LAU


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## alejandro123

good question, I've always been wondering what is the diffrence between 显得 and 看起来


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## xiaolijie

> my teacher said I shall use 显+one word adjective and 显得+two words adjective


This is not correct and will lead to confusion and mistakes. 显 and 显得 should be treated as separate words and learned separately.



> I've always been wondering what is the diffrence between 显得 and 看起来


There are some differences. The main one is 显得 tends to be followed by and adjectival (phrase) and 看起来 can be followed also by some other types. For this reason, you can say:
显得很着急
看起来很着急
but 
看起来就是一副很稚气的样子
显得就是一副很稚气的样子

看起来病了
显得病了(???)


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## Lucia_zwl

Hmm...that's really tricky... Sometimes they are interchangeable, but sometimes not.

I would say, you'll need a reason to say 显得, while 看起来 just means something/someone looks XXX.
I can think of a context to tell the difference between 显得 and 看起来:
A：你看起来瘦了好多啊！
B：没有啊，我放假这段时间还胖了两斤呢！可能是穿黑衣服显得瘦吧！
Here 看起来 and 显得 are not interchangeable. A says that B looks thinner than before without a reason, since it's just a feeling. B says she herself looks/seems thinner because she is wearing black.

@Lau





> 她显得生病了 (she seems to be ill) and she said it was wrong. The right sentence is 她看起来病了.


她看起来病了 is fine. If you wanna use 显得, I would say, 她最近无精打采，显得像生病了似的/显得病怏怏的。

@xiaolijie





> 显得就是一副很稚气的样子


 If there is a reason, I'd say this sentence also works to me.



> my teacher said I shall use 显+one word adjective and 显得+two words adjective


I don't agree either...perhaps the first half is right, but 穿黑衣服显瘦 and 穿黑衣服显得瘦 both sound good to me. Maybe 显得 is more formal...

Hope this helps~

*EDIT*: oh I just found another explanation on the internet: 显得 indicates that something/someone *makes *something/someone look/seem XXX. So, we can say 穿黑衣服显得瘦 means "wearing black makes her look thinner"


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## xiaolijie

> 显得 indicates that something/someone makes something/someone look/seem XXX. So, we can say 穿黑衣服显得瘦 means "wearing black makes her look thinner"


 That is right, Lucia! In contrast, 看起来 can also means that something looks a certain way and that is the way it naturally looks. For this reason, 显得就是一副很稚气的样子 doesn't sound right in the following context:
他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，显得就是一副很稚气的样子
but the one below (with 看起来) sounds much more natural:
他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，看起来就是一副很稚气的样子


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## SuperXW

alejandro123, I think it's understandable if you use 显得 instead of 看起来 in all cases, such as your 显得就是一副很稚气的样子, although strictly speaking, 看起来 is the correct one.
I will analyse the difference in this way: 
"得+adj" is a fixed way of expression. So 显得很瘦 good. 显得就是…… not good. 显得一副很稚气的样子 not good.
"看起来" can be followed by adjective, verb phrase or other conponents, so it's more adaptable. E.g. 看起来很瘦，看起来就是那个人，看起来做得不错，看起来很弱的样子…… all good.
But 看起来 has one limitation: it must have something to do with "vision", while 显得 could refer to a more general feeling. In starter's post, 显得亲热 "feels intimate" is a good usage, while "看起来亲热" only means "looks intimate".


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## SuperXW

lautaro said:


> 大家好！
> 
> 我一点糊涂用显+形容词。
> 
> 例如：
> *A: 你叫我“老马”呢？五年没见了，我真的显老吗？*
> B: *中国人称呼比自己大的朋友，一般是在姓前面加上一个“老”字。像“老张”啊，“老王”啊，叫你“老马”，显得亲热！*
> 
> my teacher said I shall use 显+one word adjective and 显得+two words adjective but my try was 她显得生病了 (she seems to be ill) and she said it was wrong. The right sentence is 她看起来病了. Maybe it is because 生病 means to fall ill and not ill, is it? But 显得很着急then？
> 
> As usual, many thanks to all your responses.
> 
> LAU


Your teacher is talkng about a habit of Mandarine speakers. I don't think you must memorize the rules. Just practice more would do.
The habit is: 
single character verb (seem, become etc.) + simpler adjective 
E.g. 显胖, 显瘦, 显老, 显年轻, 显病, 变老, 变强... 
I think the reason is that in Chinese mind, two characters can become a basic unit of "word". This two character structure feels stable and balanced for use.

single character verb (seem, become etc.) + 得 + longer and more complicate adjective
E.g. 显得太胖, 显得很瘦, 显得非常老, 显得不年轻, 显得病怏怏的, 变得老奸巨猾, 变得强悍无比...

显得生病了 is wrong because 得+adjective is the correct way, while 生病 in Chinese is not an adjective, it's a verb+noun compound instead.


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## BODYholic

lautaro said:


> 显得+two words adjective but my try was 她显得*生病*了 (she seems to be ill)



Before we go any further, are you certain that "生病"  is an adjective?

Also, instances when 显得 and 看起来 are interchangeable, the former is always more formal. 看起来 is colloquial and you rarely hear this term in TV or printed advertisements, for example.

流线型的设计使这辆车更显得气派。
流线型的设计使这辆车看起来更气派。


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## tarlou

xiaolijie said:


> That is right, Lucia! In contrast, 看起来 can also means that something looks a certain way and that is the way it naturally looks. For this reason, 显得就是一副很稚气的样子 doesn't sound right in the following context:
> 他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，显得就是一副很稚气的样子
> but the one below (with 看起来) sounds much more natural:
> 他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，看起来就是一副很稚气的样子



I think 就是 and 稚气 are the problems here. Neither sentence is exactly correct.
The follows are all correct.
显得一副很稚嫩的样子
看起来一副很稚嫩的样子
显得一副稚气未脱的样子
看起来一副稚气未脱的样子

Also I don't think 穿黑衣服显得瘦 is a very good sentence. I'd say 穿黑衣服显着瘦.

Edit: But 穿黑衣服显得瘦吧 sounds good. Maybe that's an issue of stress and pace.


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## xiaolijie

tarlou said:


> I think 就是 and 稚气 are the problems here. Neither sentence is exactly correct.
> The follows are all correct.
> 显得一副很稚嫩的样子
> 看起来一副很稚嫩的样子
> 显得一副稚气未脱的样子
> 看起来一副稚气未脱的样子
> 
> Also I don't think 穿黑衣服显得瘦 is a very good sentence. I'd say 穿黑衣服显着瘦.
> 
> Edit: But 穿黑衣服显得瘦吧 sounds good. Maybe that's an issue of stress and pace.


Tarlou, you're taking the discussion into a different direction. It's possible to pick out anything in a sentence and talk about it but please refrain from doing so and stick to the points being discussed.


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## Lucia_zwl

xiaolijie said:


> That is right, Lucia! In contrast, 看起来 can also means that something looks a certain way and that is the way it naturally looks. For this reason, 显得就是一副很稚气的样子 doesn't sound right in the following context:
> 他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，显得就是一副很稚气的样子
> but the one below (with 看起来) sounds much more natural:
> 他年龄尚小，羽毛未丰，看起来就是一副很稚气的样子


Yep~so this is a marked difference. In your context, 看起来 is correct while 显得 is not, since it's natural for a child to look like a child. But if it's an adult that looks like a child (or behaves childishly), 显得 will be better. e.g. 
他虽然已经过了花季雨季的年龄，但涉世尚浅，显得还是一副很稚气的样子/显得稚气未脱。



> "得+adj" is a fixed way of expression. So 显得很瘦 good. 显得就是…… not good. 显得一副很稚气的样子 not good.


@SuperXW, but we can also say 白色的墙面显得*屋子*很干净, right?



> The habit is:
> single character verb (seem, become etc.) + simpler adjective
> E.g. 显胖, 显瘦, 显老, 显年轻, 显病, 变老, 变强...
> I think the reason is that in Chinese mind, two characters can become a basic unit of "word". This two character structure feels stable and balanced for use.
> 
> single character verb (seem, become etc.) + 得 + longer and more complicate adjective
> E.g. 显得太胖, 显得很瘦, 显得非常老, 显得不年轻, 显得病怏怏的, 变得老奸巨猾, 变得强悍无比...


This sounds reasonable as for distinguishing 显/显得. I agree~


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## lautaro

SuperXW said:


> Your teacher is talkng about a habit of Mandarine speakers. I don't think you must memorize the rules. Just practice more would do.
> The habit is:
> single character verb (seem, become etc.) + simpler adjective
> E.g. 显胖, 显瘦, 显老, 显年轻, 显病, 变老, 变强...
> I think the reason is that in Chinese mind, two characters can become a basic unit of "word". This two character structure feels stable and balanced for use.
> 
> single character verb (seem, become etc.) + 得 + longer and more complicate adjective
> E.g. 显得太胖, 显得很瘦, 显得非常老, 显得不年轻, 显得病怏怏的, 变得老奸巨猾, 变得强悍无比...
> 
> 显得生病了 is wrong because 得+adjective is the correct way, while 生病 in Chinese is not an adjective, it's a verb+noun compound instead.



I think that's a good explanation. 
About *显生病 I think I was led into mistake by the fact that, as non-native speaker, I normally consider 生病 like an adjective and not like and adjectival phrase. This lead me into temptation of using it as adjective... 

Beyond grammar explanation I think I have understood that if I want to use 显/显得 there must be a reason, something that starts the fire for the appearance: he seems old because long time has passed. Differently if I want to use 看起来 I need to express a simple sensation, a feeling.


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## SuperXW

Lucia_zwl said:


> @SuperXW, but we can also say 白色的墙面显得*屋子*很干净, right?


Hmm, looks like the following format should be included: 
显得 (+something is) + adjective.
显得人很瘦, 显得我大方, 显得屋子很干净...


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