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I recently took a Chinese test on EasyMandarin website. One of the question was the following:

我看你红光满面，___精神的。

I answered 好 but the correct answer was 挺. The other candidates are 太 and 多么.

However, why is 挺 correct here? I also don't understand the sentence, either. How is the two sentences connected together? It is like "I saw your face was red due to happiness, too spiritual...?

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  • bkrs：红光满面（形容人脸色红润） glow with health; a healthy and hearty look; glowing with health; glowing ruddy cheeks; have a fine colour in one's cheeks; have a high colour; in ruddy health; wear a radiant face， 挺 III 〈副〉 (1) 非常 [very]。 (2) 如: 挺好; 病得挺重的 (3) 颇, 相当 [rather]。 (4) 如: 今天挺冷 (多么 would seem possible） 我看你红光满面 grammar topic：sentence with S-P (subject-predicate) as predicate, others would say "telescopic construction" (topic-comment) S：你，S-P predicate: 红光(S,red light/glare)满面 (P)
    – user6065
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 9:24
  • 精神:（活跃; 有生气） lively; spirited; vigorous: 那孩子怪精神的。 The child is full of life. 他穿上这套衣服真精神。 The suit made him look especially impressive.
    – user6065
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 9:28

3 Answers 3

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  • 太 is usually a compound with 了. So if 太 was the correct answer it would be: ___精神了。

  • 好 would work in dialect/topolect in place of 很 - but is incorrect in MSM.

  • 多么 is just weird. maybe it work work with 啊 like ___精神啊 - but now were moving away from MSM again.

  • 挺 is pretty much interchangeable with 很

Spiritual is not the correct translation here for 精神.

MDBG defines it as:

精神

jīng​shen​

vigor / vitality / drive / spiritual

红光满面，挺精神的。

glowing with health - looking full of vigor (energetic/lively/spirited)

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挺 as an adverb means: very; rather; pretty; quite

我看你红光满面，___精神的。

I see your face is glowing with healthy color, you seem ___ strong and spirited.

very; rather; pretty; quite are all correct answers.

好精神的 is incorrect in this context because 好 is the colloquial form of 很(very). 我看你红光满面，很精神的。would be grammatically correct.

However, the sentence in the question ended with a period, indicates the sentence is completed. Which means the first part "我看你红光满面" is the observation, and the second part "挺精神的" is the estimation (a conclusion from the observation), 很 sounds too definite

  • 我看你红光满面, 太精神的 (too strong and spirited) makes not much sense.

  • 我看你红光满面, 多么精神的 (how strong and spirited it is) '多么' usually pair with an finish particle '啊' not '的'

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  • Thanks but why 很 sounds too definite while 挺 is not? Both seem to mean the same thing I think...
    – Blaszard
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 14:04
  • 很 traslates to "very", whereas 挺 means more along the lines of "quite", "pretty", and "rather".
    – as4s4hetic
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 14:19
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In fact, we omit 你看起来 in the second sentence. We don't usually use "and" (和) when linking two sentences.
太，多么，非常 can be used to describe the adjectives but usually the character 的 in adjectives is omited. Usually 太 is followed by an adjective and a character 了，for example "太棒了，太好了，太贵了，太咸了" which means too much. 多么 is usually followed by an adjective (with 的)and a noun. For example "多么美好的一天，多么漂亮的人" 非常is a common word to describe a noun. For example "天气非常好，这水很咸" from which we can see the structure is: subject ＋非常＋adjective. 挺means a little low degree to describe an adjective and is usually followed by an adjective (with 的). For example "这水挺好喝的，今天天气挺好的，我挺开心的"

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