一步一个脚印

How does one tackle the challenge of translating the highly versatile and meaningful English construction “as…as…”?

Find out as I break the structure down into its most common variants and give you translations with pinyin along the way.

As fast as possible / as soon as possible

尽快 jǐnkuài

他尽快完成了这项任务。Tā jǐnkuài wánchéng le zhè xiàng rènwù.
He completed the task as fast as he could.

我会尽快回信。Wǒ huì jǐnkuài huíxìn.
I will write back as soon as possible.

别急，我会尽快到达。Bié jí, wǒ huì jǐnkuài dàodá.
Don’t worry, I’ll be there as soon as I can.

As much as possible

尽全力 – jìn quánlì / 尽力 – jìnlì or 尽量 jìnliàng or 尽可能 jǐnkěnéng

我们应该尽全力保护我们的传统。Wǒmen yīnggāi jìn quánlì bǎohù wǒmen de chuántǒng.
We should preserve our traditions as much as possible.

我尽全力去跑了。Wǒ jìn quánlì qù pǎo le.
I ran as fast as I could.

我会尽量照顾好妹妹。Wǒ huì jìnliàng zhàogù hǎo mèimei.
I will do my best to look after my younger sister.

我们应该尽可能地去保护人权。Wǒmen yīnggāi jǐnkěnéng de qù bǎohù rénquán.
We should try to protect human rights as much as possible.

As many X as possible

No exact correspondence; use a free translation

我努力去尝试着卖票，但是没有人理睬我。 Wǒ nǔlì qù chángshì zhe mài piào, dànshì méiyǒu rén lǐcǎi wǒ.
I tried to sell as many tickets as I could, but no one noticed me.

目标就是分取得的越多越好。Mùbiāo jiùshì fēn qǔdé de yuè duō yuè hǎo.
The objective is to get as many points as possible.

我们应该把这个广告发给最多的人数。Wǒmen yīnggāi bǎ zhège guǎnggào fāgěi zuìduō de rénshù.
We should send the advertisement to as many people as possible.

As X as X

No exact correpsondence; use a free translation

他远没有我长得高。Tā yuǎn méiyǒu wǒ zhǎng de gāo.
He’s nowhere near as tall as me.

这个产品是很便宜，但却远没有那个产品效率高。Zhège chǎnpǐn shì hěn piányi, dàn què yuǎn méiyǒu nàgè chǎnpǐn xiàolǜ gāo.
This product is just as cheap but not as effective as the other one.

想身壮如虎的话就要平时多多锻炼！Xiǎng shēn zhuàng rú hǔ dehuà jiù yào píngshí duōduō duànliàn!
If you want to be as strong as an ox [“tiger”] you have to work out a whole lot!