一点 (yīdiǎn) and 有点 (yǒudiǎn), usually pronounced 一点儿 (yīdiǎnr) and 有点儿 (yǒudiǎnr) in northern China, all mean pretty much the same thing, "a little" or "a bit," but they have different uses in sentences.

Used with Nouns

一点 (yīdiǎn) can be placed before a noun to mean "small quantity," like 一点水，一点钱 while 有点 (yǒudiǎn) can't be used this way. Note that 有点 is also a shortened form of 有一点，which means "there is a little something. A few examples to help you understand:

Used with Adjectives

有点 (also 有点儿) is placed before an adjective, and it usually expresses something that the speaker doesn't want or his own negative feelings about something.

一点 (also 一点儿) cannot be placed before an adjective. Instead, it is placed after adjectives. The adjectives that can be used are particularly limited. 一点 is often used when comparing, or expressing speaker’s wish or expectation.

Examples

Negative Forms

You can use 不 or 没 after 有点 and before the adjective, however the following adjective should have a positive connotation, like 高兴 (gāoxìng), 舒服 (shūfu), 喜欢(xǐhuan) etc. This makes the overall emotion expressed feel negative still.

一点 cannot be linked together directly, but can be used in the 一点都(也) 不 / 没 structure to mean "not at all."

Examples

Right and Wrong

Example Dialog

See Also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

Category:grammar comparison