Skip to content
HSK 2.0 Level 6+ HSK 3.0 Level 7–9+ 7 min read

不亚于, 仅次于 and 莫过于 for Formal Comparisons

Use 不亚于 (“no less than”), 仅次于 (“second only to”) and 莫过于 (“nothing is more … than”) to compare things in formal Chinese.

Pattern

A + 不亚于 + B；A + 仅次于 + B；最……的 + 莫过于 + B

Three formal comparison verbs: A is as good as B (不亚于), A ranks just below B (仅次于), and B is the most … of all (莫过于).

学习语言最好的方法莫过于多听多说。

When to use 不亚于, 仅次于 and 莫过于 for Formal Comparisons

All three end in 于, a formal preposition that works like “than” or “to” here. 不亚于: 亚 means “inferior, second,” so A不亚于B says A is not worse than B, as good as or even better. 仅次于: 仅 is “only” and 次 is “next,” so A仅次于B says A ranks right after B, in second place.

这家小店的饺子一点儿也不亚于大饭店的。

The dumplings at this little shop are every bit as good as a big restaurant’s.

这次考试他考了全班第二，仅次于小王。

He came second in the class in this exam, just behind Xiao Wang.

她的中文水平丝毫不亚于中国学生。

Her Chinese is in no way inferior to that of Chinese students.

在我们班，喜欢篮球的人数仅次于喜欢足球的。

In our class, the number of people who like basketball is second only to the number who like football.

Common traps

  • 不亚于 means “as good as,” not “not as good as”: the 不 cancels the idea of being inferior.
  • 仅次于 always puts A just below B; the thing after 仅次于 is the one in first place.
  • 莫过于 normally follows a “most” idea in the subject: 最好的方法莫过于…… sounds right, while plain 方法莫过于…… does not.

Targeted drill

Practice this exact pattern before moving on.

对学生来说，最开心的事 放暑假了

For students, nothing is happier than the start of the summer holidays
Fill in the missing piece, then press Enter

How we make our content