How to use 少
少 + Verb
Before a verb, 少 asks for a smaller amount or a lower frequency of the action. It is useful for advice about habits, instructions about quantities, and requests to reduce something excessive. The verb follows 少, even when English places “less” after its verb. A following object identifies what should be reduced.
点 or 一点 can make the requested reduction less absolute, and 请 can add politeness. However, 少 is not automatically gentle: short commands and established expressions may sound critical or dismissive. Judge the tone from the whole utterance. Keep this preverbal use separate from 少 as an adjective describing how few things there are.
Examples with pinyin and English
请少放点盐。
Use less salt, please.
少吃垃圾食品。
Eat less junk food.
少买点，吃不完会坏的。
Don't buy too much. It will go bad if we can't finish eating it all.
你能不能少抽点烟？
Can you smoke less?
What to remember
- Place 少 before the verb.
- 点 or 一点 can soften the amount.
- Context determines whether the advice sounds critical.
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Source and editorial notes
Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.