Chinese grammar

The grammar of Standard Chinese or Mandarin shares many features with other varieties of
Chinese. The language almost entirely lacks inflection; words typically have only one
grammatical form. Categories such as number (singular or plural) and verb tense are frequently
not expressed by any grammatical means, but there are several particles that serve to express
verbal aspect and, to some extent, mood.

zhōngwén yǔfǎ
中 文 语法

[中文語法],

meaning "Chinese grammar", written vertically in simplified (left) and traditional (right) Chinese characters
The basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), as in English. Otherwise, Chinese is chiefly a
head-final language, meaning that modifiers precede the words that they modify. In a noun
phrase, for example, the head noun comes last, and all modifiers, including relative clauses,
come in front of it. This phenomenon however is more typically found in subject–object–verb
languages, such as Turkish and Japanese.

Chinese frequently uses serial verb constructions, which involve two or more verbs or verb
phrases in sequence. Chinese prepositions behave similarly to serialized verbs in some
respects,[a] and they are often referred to as coverbs. There are also location markers, which are
placed after a noun and are thus often called postpositions; they are often used in combination
with a coverb. Predicate adjectives are normally used without a copular verb ("to be") and so can
be regarded as a type of verb.

As in many other East Asian languages, classifiers or measure words are required when
numerals and sometimes other words, such as demonstratives, are used with nouns. There are
many different classifiers in the language, and each countable noun generally has a particular
classifier associated with it. Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general
classifier ge (simplified Chinese: 个; traditional Chinese: 個) in place of other specific classifiers.

Word formation

In Chinese, the concept of words and the boundaries between them is not always transparent,[b]
and the Chinese script does not use spaces between words. Grammatically, some strings of
characters behave as single words in some contexts, but are separable in others. Many English
intransitive verbs are translated by verb+noun compounds, such as tiàowǔ (跳舞 literally "to jump
a dance", meaning "to dance"); such items may be regarded as single lexical words, although the
two parts can become separated by (for example) aspect markers, and in fact they generally
behave grammatically as a verb plus an object. Sometimes the behavior of such compounds is
anomalous, however; for instance guānxīn (关心; 關心, "to be concerned about") behaves as an
inseparable word when the perfective particle le is attached, although it is separable in the
phrase guān shénme xīn (关什么心; 關什麼心, literally "concern what about", meaning "to be
concerned about what").[1]

Chinese morphemes, or minimum units of meaning, are mostly monosyllabic. Syllables, and thus
in most cases morphemes, are represented as a rule by single characters. Some words consist
of single syllables, but many words are formed by compounding two or more monosyllabic
morphemes. These may be either free or bound – that is, they may or may not also be able to
stand independently. Most two-syllable compound nouns have the head on the right, while in
compound verbs the head is usually on the left.[2] Loanwords from other languages may be
polysyllabic; they are usually written using selected pre-existing characters that have the right
phonetic values, for example, shāfā (沙发; 沙發, "sofa") is written with the characters shā (沙,
originally "sand") and fā (发; 發, originally "to send/to issue"). Many native disyllabic morphemes
such as zhīzhū (蜘蛛, "spider") have consonant alliteration, although some such as gālá (旮旯) do
not.

Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the same meaning,
such as dàsuàn (大蒜, literally "big garlic") for suàn (蒜, "garlic"). Many disyllabic nouns are
produced by adding the suffix zi (子, originally meaning "child") to a monosyllabic word or
morpheme. There is a strong tendency for monosyllables to be avoided in certain positions; for
example, a disyllabic verb will not normally be followed by a monosyllabic object. This may be
connected with the preferred metrical structure of the language.

Reduplication

A common feature in Chinese is reduplication, where a syllable or word is repeated to produce a

modified meaning. This can happen with:

classifiers, to produce a phrase meaning "all"; for example, zuòzuò shān (座座山, "all the
mountains"), where ordinarily zuò is the classifier used in a phrase denoting a specific number
of mountains

syllables in some informal words denoting family relations, for example māma (妈妈; 媽媽,
"mother"), dìdi (弟弟, "younger brother")

some adjectives, to add emphasis: hónghóng (红红; 紅紅 "so red"), from hóng (红; 紅, "red").
This is most common with monosyllabic adjectives, but can also occur with some disyllabic
ones, in some cases on the pattern gāogāoxìngxìng (高高兴兴; 高高興興), from gāoxìng (高兴;
高興, "happy"); and in others on the pattern bīngliáng-bīngliáng (冰凉冰凉; 冰涼冰涼), from
bīngliáng (冰凉; 冰涼, "ice-cool") [c][3]

many verbs, to mark the delimitative aspect ("to do something for a little bit") or for general
emphasis – see the § Aspects section
 certain other single-syllable words and morphemes, as in xīngxīng (星星, "[distant] star,
speck"), from xīng (星, "star"); chángcháng (常常, "often"); or gǒugǒu (狗狗, "puppy/doggy")
where gǒu (狗) is "dog"

other adjectives have ABB reduplication structure. (香喷喷, xiāngpēnpēn "delicious"). (亮晶晶,
liàngjīngjīng "shining").

Prefixes
kě
可 — "-able"
kě kào
可 靠 — "reliable"
kě jìng
可 敬 — "respectable"
fǎn
反 — "anti-"
fǎn kǒng
反 恐 [反恐] — "anti-terror"
fǎn duòtāi
反 堕 胎 [反墮胎] — "anti-abortion"

Suffixes
huà
化 — "change"
guójì huà
国际 化 [國際化] — "internationalise"
è huà
恶 化 [惡化] — "worsen"
xìng
性 — "attribute"
ānquán xìng
安 全 性 — "safety"
yǒuxiào xìng
有 效 性 — "effectiveness"

Infixes
de bu
得 — "can" and 不 — "cannot"
tīngdedǒng
听 得 懂 — "can understand"
tīngbudǒng
听 不 懂 — "cannot understand"
Sentence structure

Chinese, like English, is classified as an SVO (subject–verb–object) language. Transitive verbs

precede their objects in typical simple clauses, while the subject precedes the verb. For
example:[4]

他 喝 酒。
tā hē jiǔ
He drink alcohol
He drinks alcohol.

Chinese can also be considered a topic-prominent language:[5] there is a strong preference for
sentences that begin with the topic, usually "given" or "old" information; and end with the
comment, or "new" information. Certain modifications of the basic subject–verb–object order
are permissible and may serve to achieve topic-prominence. In particular, a direct or indirect
object may be moved to the start of the clause to create topicalization. It is also possible for an
object to be moved to a position in front of the verb for emphasis.[6]

Another type of sentence is what has been called an ergative structure,[7] where the apparent
subject of the verb can move to object position; the empty subject position is then often
occupied by an expression of location. Compare locative inversion in English. This structure is
typical of the verb yǒu (有, "there is/are"; in other contexts the same verb means "have"), but it
can also be used with many other verbs, generally denoting position, appearance or
disappearance. An example:

院子 里 停着 车。 [院子裡停著車。/ 院子裏停着車。]
yuànzi lǐ tíngzhe chē  
Courtyard in park vehicle  
In the courtyard is parked a vehicle.

Chinese is also to some degree a pro-drop or null-subject language, meaning that the subject
can be omitted from a clause if it can be inferred from the context.[8] In the following example,
the subject of the verbs for "hike" and "camp" is left to be inferred—it may be "we", "I", "you", "she",
etc.

今天 爬 山 明天 露 营。 [今天爬山，明天露營。]
jīntiān pá shān míngtiān lù yíng  
 Today climb mountain, tomorrow outdoors camp  
Today hike up mountains, tomorrow camp outdoors.

In the next example the subject is omitted and the object is topicalized by being moved into
subject position, to form a passive-type sentence. For passive sentences with a marker such as
被; bèi, see the passive section.

饭 做 好 了。 [飯做好了。]
fàn zuò hǎo le  
Food make complete pfv  
The food has been made or the food is ready.

Adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify the verb typically come after the subject but before
the verb, although other positions are sometimes possible; see Adverbs and adverbials. For
constructions that involve more than one verb or verb phrase in sequence, see Serial verb
constructions. For sentences consisting of more than one clause, see Conjunctions.

Objects

Some verbs can take both an indirect object and a direct object. Indirect normally precedes
direct, as in English:

我 给 了 她 六 本 书。 [我給了她六本書。]
wǒ gěi le tā liù běn shū  
I give pfv her six book-cl books  
I gave her six books.

With many verbs, however, the indirect object may alternatively be preceded by prepositional gěi
(给; 給); in that case it may either precede or follow the direct object. (Compare the similar use of
to or for in English.)

In certain situations a direct object may be preceded by the accusative marker bǎ (把).[9] This
generally denotes an action that results in a change of state in the object. For further details of
this, see the bǎ construction section. Such a bǎ phrase no longer occupies the normal direct
object position, but moves in front of the verb. Compare:

我 打 坏 了 盘子。 [我打壞了盤子。]
wǒ dǎ huài le pánzi  
 I [verb-form] break pfv plate  
I broke a plate.

我 把 盘子 打 坏 了。 [我把盤子打壞了。]
wǒ bǎ pánzi dǎ huài le  
I ba plate [verb-form] break pfv  
I ba plate broke.

The meanings of the above two sentences are similar, but the one with bǎ may be considered to
place more emphasis on what happened to the object. It may also indicate definiteness—"the
plate" rather than "a plate". Certain other markers can be used in a similar way to bǎ, such as the
formal jiāng (将; 將) and colloquial ná (拿).

Some verbs can apparently take two direct objects, which may be called an "inner" and an "outer"
object.[10] These cannot both follow the verb – typically the outer object will be placed at the
start of the sentence (topicalized) or introduced via the bǎ construction. For example:

我 把 橘子 皮 剥 了。 [我把橘子皮剝了。]
wǒ bǎ júzi pí bō le  
I ba tangerine skin peel pfv  

I peeled the tangerine.[d]

Here pí (皮, "skin") is the inner object, and júzi (橘子, "tangerine") is introduced via the bǎ
construction as the outer object.[11]

Plurals

Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked for number, meaning that
plural forms are mostly the same as the singular. However, there is a plural marker men (们; 們),
which has limited usage. It is used with personal pronouns, as in wǒmen (我们; 我們, "we" or
"us"), derived from wǒ (我, "I, me"). It can be used with nouns representing humans, most
commonly those with two syllables, like in péngyoumen (朋友们; 朋友們, "friends"), from péngyou
(朋友, "friend"). Its use in such cases is optional.[12] It is never used when the noun has indefinite
reference, or when it is qualified by a numeral.[13]

The demonstrative pronouns zhè (这; 這, "this"), and nà (那, "that") may be optionally pluralized by
the addition of xiē (些), making zhèxiē (这些; 這些, "these") and nàxiē (那些, "those").
Noun phrases

The head noun of a noun phrase comes at the end of the phrase; this means that everything that
modifies the noun comes before it. This includes attributive adjectives, determiners, quantifiers,
possessives, and relative clauses.

Chinese does not have articles as such; a noun may stand alone to represent what in English
would be expressed as "the ..." or "a[n] ...". However the word yī (一, "one"), followed by the
appropriate classifier, may be used in some cases where English would have "a" or "an". It is also
possible, with many classifiers, to omit the yī and leave the classifier on its own at the start of
the noun phrase.

The demonstratives are zhè (这; 這, "this"), and nà (那, "that"). When used before a noun, these
are often followed by an appropriate classifier (for discussion of classifiers, see Classifiers
below and the article Chinese classifiers). However this use of classifiers is optional.[14] When a
noun is preceded by a numeral (or a demonstrative followed by a numeral), the use of a classifier
or measure word is in most cases considered mandatory. (This does not apply to nouns that
function as measure words themselves; this includes many units of measurement and currency.)

The plural marker xiē (些, "some, several"; also used to pluralize demonstratives) is used without
a classifier. However jǐ (几; 幾, "some, several, how many") takes a classifier.[15]

For adjectives in noun phrases, see the Adjectives section. For noun phrases with pronouns
rather than nouns as the head, see the Pronouns section.

Possessives are formed by adding de (的)—the same particle that is used after relative clauses
and sometimes after adjectives—after the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that denotes the
possessor.

Relative clauses

Chinese relative clauses, like other noun modifiers, precede the noun they modify. Like
possessives and some adjectives, they are marked with the final particle de (的). A free relative
clause is produced if the modified noun following the de is omitted. A relative clause usually
comes after any determiner phrase, such as a numeral and classifier. For emphasis, it may come
before the determiner phrase.[16]
There is usually no relative pronoun in the relative clause. Instead, a gap is left in subject or
object position as appropriate. If there are two gaps—the additional gap being created by pro-
dropping—ambiguity may arise. For example, chī de (吃的) may mean "[those] who eat" or "[that]
which is eaten". When used alone, it usually means "things to eat".

If the relative item is governed by a preposition in the relative clause, then it is denoted by a
pronoun, e.g. tì tā (替他, "for him"), to explain "for whom". Otherwise the whole prepositional
phrase is omitted, the preposition then being implicitly understood.

For example sentences, see Relative clause → Mandarin.

Classifiers

Chinese nouns require classifiers called liàngcí (量词; 量詞; 'measure words') in order to be
counted. That is, when specifying the amount of a countable noun,[e] a classifier must be
inserted which agrees with the noun. Hence one must say liǎng tóu niú (两头牛; 兩頭牛, "two
head of cattle") for "two cows", with tóu being the measure word or classifier. This phenomenon
is common in East Asian languages. In English, some words, as in the cited example of "cattle",
are often paired with a noun used much like the Chinese measure word. Bottle in "two bottles of
wine" or sheet in "three sheets of paper" are further examples. However, certain nouns
representing units of measurement, time, or currency are themselves classifiers. These can
therefore be counted directly.

Classifiers are generally associated with certain groups of nouns related by meaning, such as
tiáo (条; 條) for long, thin objects or animals, like ropes, snakes or fish; bǎ (把) for objects with
handles, like knives or umbrellas; or zhāng (张; 張) for flat, sheet-like objects like photographs, or
fur. While there are dozens of classifiers, which must be memorized individually for each noun, a
majority of words use the general classifier gè (个; 個). Many nouns that are associated with
other classifiers can also use gè if the speaker chooses. The classifiers for many nouns appear
arbitrary. The word zhuōzi (桌子, "table") is a zhāng noun, probably because a table-top is sheet-
like; while yǐzi (椅子, "chair") is a bǎ noun, likely because a chair is moved by lifting something like
a handle. Dèngzi (凳子), another word for chair or stool, is a gè noun.

Classifiers are also used optionally after demonstratives, and in certain other situations. See the
Noun phrases section, and the article Chinese classifier.

Numerals
Pronouns

The Chinese personal pronouns are wǒ (我, "I, me"), nǐ (你; 你/妳,[f] "you"), and tā (他/她/牠/它,
"he; him/she; her/it (animals)/it (inanimate objects)". Plurals are formed by adding men (们; 們):
wǒmen (我们; 我們, "we, us"), nǐmen (你们; 你們, "you"), tāmen (他们/她们/它们/它们; 他們/她們/
牠們/它們, "they/them"). There is also nín (您), a formal, polite word for singular "you", as well as
a less common plural form, nínmen (您们). The alternative "inclusive" word for "we/us"—zán (咱)
or zá[n]men (咱们; 咱們), specifically including the listener[17] (like the difference between English
let us and let's)—is used colloquially. The third-person pronouns are not often used for
inanimates, with demonstratives used instead.

Possessives are formed with de (的), such as wǒde (我的, "my, mine"), wǒmende (我们的; 我們的,
"our[s]"), etc. The de may be omitted in phrases denoting inalienable possession, such as wǒ
māma (我妈妈; 我媽媽, "my mom").

The demonstrative pronouns are zhè (这; 這, "this", colloquially pronounced zhèi) and nà (那,
"that", colloquially pronounced nèi). They are optionally pluralized by the addition of xiē (些).
There is a reflexive pronoun zìjǐ (自己) meaning "oneself, myself, etc.", which can stand alone as
an object or a possessive, or may follow a personal pronoun for emphasis. The reciprocal
pronoun "each other" can be translated from bǐcǐ (彼此), usually in adverb position. An alternative
is hùxiāng (互相, "mutually").

Adjectives

Adjectives can be used attributively, before a noun. The relative marker de (的)[g] may be added
after the adjective, but this is not always required; "black horse" may be either hēi mǎ (黑马; 黑馬)
or hēi de mǎ (黑的马; 黑的馬). When multiple adjectives are used, the order "quality/size – shape
– color" is followed, although this is not necessary when each adjective is made into a separate
phrase with the addition of de.[18]

Gradable adjectives can be modified by words meaning "very", etc.; such modifying adverbs
normally precede the adjective, although some, such as jíle (极了; 極了, "extremely"), come after
it.

When adjectives co-occur with classifiers, they normally follow the classifier. However, with most
common classifiers, when the number is "one", it is also possible to place adjectives like "big"
and "small" before the classifier for emphasis.

ex: 一 大 个 西瓜  
一 大 個 西瓜  
yí dà ge xīguā  
[15]
one big cl watermelon

Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they behave more like verbs; there is no
need for a copular verb in sentences like "he is happy" in Chinese; one may say simply tā gāoxìng
(他高兴; 他高興, "he happy"), where the adjective may be interpreted as a verb meaning "is
happy". In such sentences it is common for the adjective to be modified by a word meaning
"very" or the like; in fact the word hěn (很 , "very") is often used in such cases with gradable
adjectives, even without carrying the meaning of "very".

It is nonetheless possible for a copula to be used in such sentences, to emphasize the adjective.
In the phrase tā shì gāoxìng le, (他是高兴了; 他是高興了, "he is now truly happy"), shì is the copula
meaning "is", and le is the inceptive marker discussed later.[19] This is similar to the cleft
sentence construction. Sentences can also be formed in which an adjective followed by de (的)
stands as the complement of the copula.

Adverbs and adverbials

Adverbs and adverbial phrases normally come in a position before the verb, but after the subject
of the verb. In sentences with auxiliary verbs, the adverb usually precedes the auxiliary verb as
well as the main verb. Some adverbs of time and attitude ("every day", "perhaps", etc.) may be
moved to the start of the clause, to modify the clause as a whole. However, some adverbs
cannot be moved in this way. These include three words for "often", cháng (常), chángcháng (常
常) and jīngcháng (经常; 經常); dōu (都, "all"); jiù (就, "then"); and yòu (又, "again").[20]

Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives using the clitic de (地).[h] It is generally
possible to move these adverbs to the start of the clause, although in some cases this may
sound awkward, unless there is a qualifier such as hěn (很, "very") and a pause after the adverb.

Some verbs take a prepositional phrase following the verb and its direct object. These are
generally obligatory constituents, such that the sentence would not make sense if they were
omitted. For example:

放 本 书 在 桌子 上 [放本書在桌子上]
 fàng běn shū zài zhuōzi shàng  
put book-cl book in table on  
Put the book on the table[21]

There are also certain adverbial "stative complements" which follow the verb. The character dé
(得)[i] followed by an adjective functions the same as the phrase "-ly" in English, turning the
adjective into an adverb. The second is hǎo le (好了, "complete"). It is not generally possible for a
single verb to be followed by both an object and an adverbial complement of this type, although
there are exceptions in cases where the complement expresses duration, frequency or goal.[22]
To express both, the verb may be repeated in a special kind of serial verb construction; the first
instance taking an object, the second taking the complement. Aspect markers can then appear
only on the second instance of the verb.

The typical Chinese word order "XVO", where an oblique complement such as a locative
prepositional phrase precedes the verb, while a direct object comes after the verb, is very rare
cross-linguistically; in fact, it is only in varieties of Chinese that this is attested as the typical
ordering.[23]

Locative phrases

Expressions of location in Chinese may include a preposition, placed before the noun; a
postposition, placed after the noun; both preposition and postposition; or neither. Chinese
prepositions are commonly known as coverbs – see the Coverbs section. The postpositions—
which include shàng (上, "up, on"), xià (下, "down, under"), lǐ (里; 裡, "in, within"), nèi (内, "inside")
and wài (外, "outside")—may also be called locative particles.[24]

In the following examples locative phrases are formed from a noun plus a locative particle:

桌子 上
zhuōzi shàng
table on
on the table

房子 里 [房子裡]
fángzi lǐ  
house in  
in the house
The most common preposition of location is zài (在, "at, on, in"). With certain nouns that
inherently denote a specific location, including nearly all place names, a locative phrase can be
formed with zài together with the noun:

在 美国 [在美國]
zài měiguó  
in America  
in America

However other types of noun still require a locative particle as a postposition in addition to zài:

在 报纸 上 [在報紙上]
zài bàozhǐ shàng  
in newspaper on  
in the newspaper

If a noun is modified so as to denote a specific location, as in "this [object]...", then it may form
locative phrases without any locative particle. Some nouns which can be understood to refer to
a specific place, like jiā (家, home) and xuéxiào (学校; 學校, "school"), may optionally omit the
locative particle. Words like shàngmiàn (上面, "top") can function as specific-location nouns, like
in zài shàngmiàn (在上面, "on top"), but can also take the role of locative particle, not necessarily
with analogous meaning. The phrase zài bàozhǐ shàngmiàn (在报纸上面; 在報紙上面; 'in
newspaper-top'), can mean either "in the newspaper" or "on the newspaper".[25]

In certain circumstances zài can be omitted from the locative expression. Grammatically, a noun
or noun phrase followed by a locative particle is still a noun phrase. For instance, zhuōzi shàng
can be regarded as short for zhuōzi shàngmiàn, meaning something like "the table's top".
Consequently, the locative expression without zài can be used in places where a noun phrase
would be expected – for instance, as a modifier of another noun using de (的), or as the object of
a different preposition, such as cóng (从; 從, "from"). The version with zài, on the other hand,
plays an adverbial role. However, zài is usually omitted when the locative expression begins a
sentence with the ergative structure, where the expression, though having an adverbial function,
can be seen as filling the subject or noun role in the sentence. For examples, see sentence
structure section.

The word zài (在), like certain other prepositions or coverbs, can also be used as a verb. A
locative expression can therefore appear as a predicate without the need for any additional
copula. For example, "he is at school" (他在学校; 他在學校; tā zài xuéxiào, literally "he at school").
Comparatives and superlatives

Comparative sentences are commonly expressed simply by inserting the standard of

comparison, preceded by bǐ (比, "than"). The adjective itself is not modified. The bǐ (比, "than")
phrase is an adverbial, and has a fixed position before the verb. See also the section on
negation.

If there is no standard of comparison—i.e., a than phrase—then the adjective can be marked as

comparative by a preceding adverb bǐjiào (比较; 比較), jiào (较; 較) or gèng (更), all meaning
"more". Similarly, superlatives can be expressed using the adverb zuì (最, "most"), which
precedes a predicate verb or adjective.

Adverbial phrases meaning "like [someone/something]" or "as [someone/something]" can be

formed using gēn (跟), tóng (同) or xiàng (像) before the noun phrase, and yīyàng (一样; 一樣) or
nàyàng (那样; 那樣) after it.[26]

The construction yuè ... yuè ... 越...越... can be translated into statements of the type "the more
..., the more ...".

Copula

The Chinese copular verb is shì (是). This is the equivalent of English "to be" and all its forms
—"am", "is", "are", "was", "were", etc. However, shì is normally only used when its complement is a
noun or noun phrase. As noted above, predicate adjectives function as verbs themselves, as
does the locative preposition zài (在), so in sentences where the predicate is an adjectival or
locative phrase, shì is not required.

For another use of shì, see shì ... [de] construction in the section on cleft sentences. The English
existential phrase "there is" ["there are", etc.] is translated using the verb yǒu (有), which is
otherwise used to denote possession.

Aspects

Chinese does not have grammatical markers of tense. The time at which action is conceived as
taking place—past, present, future—can be indicated by expressions of time—"yesterday", "now",
etc.—or may simply be inferred from the context. However, Chinese does have markers of
aspect, which is a feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of events.
There are two aspect markers that are especially commonly used with past events: the
perfective-aspect le (了) and the experiential guo (过; 過). Some authors, however, do not regard
guo (or zhe; see below) as markers of aspect.[27] Both le and guo immediately follow the verb.
There is also a sentence-final particle le, which serves a somewhat different purpose.

The perfective le presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety".[28] It is sometimes
considered to be a past tense marker, although it can also be used with future events, given
appropriate context. Some examples of its use:

我 当 了 兵。 [我當了兵。]
wǒ dāng le bīng  
I serve as le soldier.  
I became a soldier.

Using le (了) shows this event that has taken place or took place at a particular time.

他 看 了 三 场 球赛。 [他看了三場球賽。]
tā kàn le sān chǎng qiúsài  
He watch le three sports-cl ballgames.  
He watched three ballgames.

This format of le (了) is usually used in a time-delimited context such as "today" or "last week".

The above may be compared with the following examples with guo, and with the examples with
sentence-final le given under Particles.

The experiential guo "ascribes to a subject the property of having experienced the event".[29]

我 当 过 兵。 [我當過兵。]
wǒ dāng guo bīng  
I serve-as guo soldier.  
I have been a soldier before.

This also implies that the speaker no longer is a soldier.

他 看 过 三 场 球赛。 [他看過三場球賽。]
tā kàn guo sān chǎng qiúsài  
He watch guo three sports-cl ballgames.  
 He has watched three ballgames up to now.

There are also two imperfective aspect markers: zhèngzài (正在) or zài (在), and zhe (着; 著),
which denote ongoing actions or states. Zhèngzài and zài precede the verb, and are usually used
for ongoing actions or dynamic events – they may be translated as "[be] in the process of [-ing]"
or "[be] in the middle of [-ing]". Zhe follows the verb, and is used mostly for static situations.

我 [正] 在 挂 画。 [我[正]在掛畫。]
wǒ zhèng zài guà huà  
I in-middle-of hang pictures  
I'm hanging pictures up.

墙 上 挂 着 一 幅 画。 [牆上掛著一幅畫。]
qiáng shàng guà zhe yì fú huà  
Wall on hang ongoing one picture-cl picture  
A picture is hanging on the wall.

Both markers may occur in the same clause, however. For example, tā zhèngzai dǎ [zhe] diànhuà,
"he is in the middle of telephoning someone" (他正在打[着]电话; 他正在打[著]電話; 'he [in-middle-
of] [verb form] [ongoing] telephone').[30]

The delimitative aspect denotes an action that goes on only for some time, "doing something 'a
little bit'".[31] This can be expressed by reduplication of a monosyllabic verb, like the verb zǒu (走
"walk") in the following sentence:

我 到 公园 走 走。 [我到公園走走。]
wǒ dào gōngyuán zǒu zǒu  
I to park walk walk  
I'm going for a walk in the park.

An alternative construction is reduplication with insertion of "one" (一 yī). For example, zǒu yi zǒu
(走一走), which might be translated as "walk a little walk". A further possibility is reduplication
followed by kàn (看 "to see"); this emphasizes the "testing" nature of the action. If the verb has
an object, kàn follows the object.

Some compound verbs, such as restrictive-resultative and coordinate compounds, can also be
reduplicated on the pattern tǎolùn-tǎolùn (讨论讨论; 討論討論), from the verb tǎolùn (讨论; 討論),
meaning "discuss". Other compounds may be reduplicated, but for general emphasis rather than
delimitative aspect. In compounds that are verb–object combinations, like tiào wǔ (跳舞; 'to jump
a dance', "dance"), a delimitative aspect can be marked by reduplicating the first syllable,
creating tiào-tiào wǔ (跳跳舞), which may be followed with kàn (看).

Passive

As mentioned above, the fact that a verb is intended to be understood in the passive voice is not
always marked in Chinese. However, it may be marked using the passive marker 被 bèi, followed
by the agent, though bèi may appear alone, if the agent is not to be specified.[j] Certain causative
markers can replace bèi, such as those mentioned in the Other cases section, gěi, jiào and ràng.
Of these causative markers, only gěi can appear alone without a specified agent. The
construction with a passive marker is normally used only when there is a sense of misfortune or
adversity.[32] The passive marker and agent occupy the typical adverbial position before the verb.
See the Negation section for more. Some examples:

我们 被 他 骂 了。 [我們被他罵了。]
wǒmen bèi tā mà le  
We by him scolded pfv  
We were scolded by him.

他 被 我 打 了 一 顿。 [他被我打了一頓。]
tā bèi wǒ dǎ le yí dùn  
He by me beaten pfv one event-cl  
He was beaten up by me once.

Negation

The most commonly used negating element is bù (不), pronounced with second tone when
followed by a fourth tone. This can be placed before a verb, preposition or adverb to negate it.
For example: "I don't eat chicken" (我不吃鸡; 我不吃雞; wǒ bù chī jī; 'I not eat chicken'). For the
double-verb negative construction with bù, see Complement of result, below. However, the verb
yǒu (有)—which can mean either possession, or "there is/are" in existential clauses—is negated
using méi (没; 沒) to produce méiyǒu (没有; 沒有; 'not have').

For negation of a verb intended to denote a completed event, méi or méiyǒu is used instead of bù
(不), and the aspect marker le (了) is then omitted. Also, méi[yǒu] is used to negate verbs that
take the aspect marker guo (过; 過); in this case the aspect marker is not omitted.[33]

In coverb constructions, the negator may come before the coverb (preposition) or before the full
verb, the latter being more emphatic. In constructions with a passive marker, the negator
precedes that marker; similarly, in comparative constructions, the negator precedes the bǐ
phraseNot clear (unless the verb is further qualified by gèng (更, "even more"), in which case the
negator may follow the gèng to produce the meaning "even less").[34]

The negator bié (别) precedes the verb in negative commands and negative requests, such as in
phrases meaning "don't ...", "please don't ...".

The negator wèi (未) means "not yet". Other items used as negating elements in certain
compound words include wú (无; 無),wù (勿), miǎn (免) and fēi (非).

A double negative makes a positive, as in sentences like wǒ bú shì bù xǐhuān tā (我不是不喜欢她;

我不是不喜歡她, "It's not that I don't like her" ). For this use of shì (是), see the Cleft sentences
section.

Questions

In wh-questions in Chinese, the question word is not fronted. Instead, it stays in the position in
the sentence that would be occupied by the item being asked about. For example, "What did you
say?" is phrased as nǐ shuō shé[n]me (你说什么?; 你說什麼？, literally "you say what"). The word
shénme (什么; 什麼, "what" or "which"), remains in the object position after the verb.

Other interrogative words include:

"Who": shuí/shéi (谁; 誰)

"What": shénme (什么; 什麼); shá (啥, used informally)

"Where": nǎr (哪儿; 哪兒); nǎlǐ (哪里; 哪裡)

"When": shénme shíhòu (什么时候; 什麼時候); héshí (何时; 何時)

"Which": nǎ (哪)
When used to mean "which ones", nǎ is used with a classifier and noun, or with xiē (些)
and noun. The noun may be omitted if understood through context.

"Why": wèishé[n]me (为什么; 為什麼); gànmá (干吗; 幹嘛)

"How many": duōshǎo (多少)

 When the number is quite small, jǐ (几; 幾) is used, followed by a classifier.

"How": zěnme[yang] (怎么[样]; 怎麼[樣]); rúhé (如何).

Disjunctive questions can be made using the word háishì (还是; 還是) between the options, like
English "or". This differs from the word for "or" in statements, which is huòzhě (或者).

Yes-no questions can be formed using the sentence-final particle ma (吗; 嗎), with word order
otherwise the same as in a statement. For example, nǐ chī jī ma? (你吃鸡吗?; 你吃雞嗎？; 'you eat
chicken MA', "Do you eat chicken?").

An alternative is the A-not-A construction, using phrases like chī bu chī (吃不吃, "eat or not
eat").[k] With two-syllable verbs, sometimes only the first syllable is repeated: xǐ-bu-xǐhuān ( 喜不
喜欢; 喜不喜歡, "like or not like"), from xǐhuān (喜欢; 喜歡, "like"). It is also possible to use the A-
not-A construction with prepositions (coverbs) and phrases headed by them, as with full verbs.

The negator méi (没; 沒) can be used rather than bù in the A-not-A construction when referring to
a completed event, but if it occurs at the end of the sentence—i.e. the repetition is omitted—the
full form méiyǒu (没有; 沒有) must appear.[35]

For answering yes-no questions, Chinese has words that may be used like the English "yes" and
"no" – duì (对; 對) or shì de (是的) for "yes"; bù (不) for "no" – but these are not often used for this
purpose; it is more common to repeat the verb or verb phrase (or entire sentence), negating it if
applicable.

Imperatives

Second-person imperative sentences are formed in the same way as statements, and like in
English, the subject "you" is often omitted.

Orders may be softened by preceding them with an element such as qǐng (请, "to ask"), in this
use equivalent to English "please". See Particles for more. The sentence-final particle ba (吧) can
be used to form first-person imperatives, equivalent to "let's...".

Serial verb constructions

Chinese makes frequent use of serial verb constructions, or verb stacking, where two or more
verbs or verb phrases are concatenated together. This frequently involves either verbal
complements appearing after the main verb, or coverb phrases appearing before the main verb,
but other variations of the construction occur as well.

Auxiliaries

A main verb may be preceded by an auxiliary verb, as in English. Chinese auxiliaries include néng
and nénggòu (能 and 能够; 能夠, "can"); huì (会; 會, "know how to"); kéyǐ (可以, "may"); gǎn (敢,
"dare"); kěn (肯, "be willing to"); yīnggāi (应该; 應該, "should"); bìxū (必须; 必須, "must"); etc. The
auxiliary normally follows an adverb, if present. In shortened sentences an auxiliary may be used
without a main verb, analogously to English sentences such as "I can."

Verbal complements

The active verb of a sentence may be suffixed with a second verb, which usually indicates either
the result of the first action, or the direction in which it took the subject. When such information
is applicable, it is generally considered mandatory. The phenomenon is sometimes called double
verbs.

Complement of result

A complement of result, or resultative complement (结果补语; 結果補語; jiéguǒ bǔyǔ) is a verbal

suffix which indicates the outcome, or possible outcome, of the action indicated by the main
verb. In the following examples, the main verb is tīng (听; 聽 "to listen"), and the complement of
result is dǒng (懂, "to understand/to know").

听 懂 [聽懂]
tīng dǒng  
hear understand  
to understand something you hear

Since they indicate an absolute result, such double verbs necessarily represent a completed
action, and are thus negated using méi (没; 沒):

没 听 懂 [沒聽懂]
méi tīng dǒng  
not hear understand  
to have not understood something you hear
The infix de (得) is placed between the double verbs to indicate possibility or ability. This is not
possible with "restrictive" resultative compounds such as jiéshěng (节省, literally "reduce-save",
meaning "to save, economize").[36]

听 得 懂 [聽得懂]
tīng de dǒng  
hear possible/able understand  
to be able to understand something you hear

This is equivalent in meaning to néng tīng dǒng (能听懂; 能聽懂), using the auxiliary néng (能),
equivalent to "may" or "can".[l]

To negate the above construction, de (得) is replaced by bù (不):

听 不 懂 [聽不懂]
tīng bù dǒng  
hear impossible/unable understand  
to be unable to understand something you hear

With some verbs, the addition of bù and a particular complement of result is the standard
method of negation. In many cases the complement is liǎo, represented by the same character
as the perfective or modal particle le (了). This verb means "to finish", but when used as a
complement for negation purposes it may merely indicate inability. For example: shòu bù liǎo (受
不了, "to be unable to tolerate").

The complement of result is a highly productive and frequently used construction. Sometimes it
develops into idiomatic phrases, as in è sǐ le (饿死了; 餓死了, literally "hungry-until-die already",
meaning "to be starving") and qì sǐ le (气死了; 氣死了, literally "mad-until-die already", meaning "to
be extremely angry"). The phrases for "hatred" (看不起; kànbùqǐ), "excuse me" (对不起; 對不起;
duìbùqǐ), and "too expensive to buy" (买不起; 買不起; mǎi bùqǐ) all use the character qǐ (起, "to rise
up") as a complement of result, but their meanings are not obviously related to that meaning.
This is partially the result of metaphorical construction, where kànbùqǐ (看不起) literally means
"to be unable to look up to"; and duìbùqǐ (对不起; 對不起) means "to be unable to face someone".

Some more examples of resultative complements, used in complete sentences:

他 把 盘子 打 破 了。 [他把盤子打破了。]
tā bǎ pánzi dǎ pò le  
he object-cl plate hit break prf  
 He hit/dropped the plate, and it broke.

Double-verb construction where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first, and indicates
what happens to the object as a result of the action.

这 部 电影 我 看 不 懂。
zhè(i) bù diànyǐng wǒ kàn bù dǒng
this   movie I look impossible/unable understand
[這部電影我看不懂。]
 
 
I can't understand this movie even though I watched it.

Another double-verb where the second verb, "understand", suffixes the first and clarifies the
possibility and success of the relevant action.

Complement of direction

A complement of direction, or directional complement (趋向补语; 趨向補語; qūxiàng bǔyǔ)

indicates the direction of an action involving movement. The simplest directional complements
are qù (去, "to go") and lái (来; 來, "to come"), which may be added after a verb to indicate
movement away from or towards the speaker, respectively. These may form compounds with
other verbs that further specify the direction, such as shàng qù (上去, "to go up"), gùo lái (过来; 過
來, "to come over"), which may then be added to another verb, such as zǒu (走, "to walk"), as in
zǒu gùo qù (走过去; 走過去, "to walk over"). Another example, in a whole sentence:

他 走 上 来 了。 [他走上來了。]
tā zǒu shàng lái le  
he walk up come prf  
He walked up towards me.

The directional suffixes indicate "up" and "towards".

If the preceding verb has an object, the object may be placed either before or after the
directional complement(s), or even between two directional complements, provided the second
of these is not qù (去).[37]

The structure with inserted de or bù is not normally used with this type of double verb. There are
exceptions, such as "to be unable to get out of bed" (起不来床; 起不來床; qǐ bù lái chuáng or 起床
不来; 起床不來; qǐ chuáng bù lái).

Coverbs

Chinese has a class of words, called coverbs, which in some respects resemble both verbs and
prepositions. They appear with a following object (or complement), and generally denote
relationships that would be expressed by prepositions (or postpositions) in other languages.
However, they are often considered to be lexically verbs, and some of them can also function as
full verbs. When a coverb phrase appears in a sentence together with a main verb phrase, the
result is essentially a type of serial verb construction. The coverb phrase, being an adverbial,
precedes the main verb in most cases. For instance:

我 帮 你 找 他。 [我幫你找他。]
wǒ bāng nǐ zhǎo tā.  
I help you find him  
I will find him for you.

Here the main verb is zhǎo (找, "find"), and bāng (帮; 幫) is a coverb. Here bāng corresponds to
the English preposition "for", even though in other contexts it might be used as a full verb
meaning "help".

我 坐 飞机 从 上海 到 北京 去。
wǒ zuò fēijī cóng Shànghǎi dào Běijīng qù.
I sit airplane from Shanghai arrive(to) Beijing go
[我坐飛機從上海到北京去。]
 
 
I'll go from Shanghai to Beijing by plane.

Here there are three coverbs: zuò (坐 "by"), cóng (从; 從, "from"), and dào (到, "to"). The words zuò
and dào can also be verbs, meaning "sit" and "arrive [at]" respectively. However, cóng is not
normally used as a full verb.

A very common coverb that can also be used as a main verb is zài (在), as described in the
Locative phrases section. Another example is gěi (给), which as a verb means "give". As a
preposition, gěi may mean "for", or "to" when marking an indirect object or in certain other
expressions.
 我 给 你 打 电话。 [我給你打電話。]
wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà  
I to you strike telephone  
I'll give you a telephone call

Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they can also be referred to simply as
prepositions. In Chinese they are called jiè cí (介词; 介詞), a term which generally corresponds to
"preposition", or more generally, "adposition". The situation is complicated somewhat by the fact
that location markers—which also have meanings similar to those of certain English
prepositions—are often called "postpositions".

Coverbs normally cannot take aspect markers, although some of them form fixed compounds
together with such markers, such as gēnzhe (跟著; 'with +[aspect marker]'), ànzhe (按著,
"according to"), yánzhe (沿着, "along"), and wèile (为了 "for").[38]

Other cases

Serial verb constructions can also consist of two consecutive verb phrases with parallel
meaning, such as hē kāfēi kàn bào, "drink coffee and read the paper" (喝咖啡看报; 喝咖啡看報;
'drink coffee read paper'). Each verb may independently be negated or given the le aspect
marker.[39] If both verbs would have the same object, it is omitted the second time.

Consecutive verb phrases may also be used to indicate consecutive events. Use of the le aspect
marker with the first verb may imply that this is the main verb of the sentence, the second verb
phrase merely indicating the purpose. Use of this le with the second verb changes this
emphasis, and may require a sentence-final le particle in addition. On the other hand, the
progressive aspect marker zài (在) may be applied to the first verb, but not normally the second
alone. The word qù (去, "go") or lái (来; 來, "come") may be inserted between the two verb
phrases, meaning "in order to".

For constructions with consecutive verb phrases containing the same verb, see under Adverbs.
For immediate repetition of a verb, see Reduplication and Aspects.

Another case is the causative or pivotal construction.[40] Here the object of one verb also serves
as the subject of the following verb. The first verb may be something like gěi (给, "allow", or "give"
in other contexts), ràng (让; 讓, "let"), jiào (叫, "order" or "call") or shǐ (使, "make, compel"), qǐng (请;
請, "invite"), or lìng (令, "command"). Some of these cannot take an aspect marker such as le
when used in this construction, like lìng, ràng, shǐ. Sentences of this type often parallel the
equivalent English pattern, except that English may insert the infinitive marker "to". In the
following example the construction is used twice:

他 要 我 请 他 喝 啤酒。 [他要我請他喝啤酒。]
tā yào wǒ qǐng tā hē píjiǔ  
he want me invite him drink beer  
He wants me to treat him [to] beer.

Particles

Chinese has a number of sentence-final particles – these are weak syllables, spoken with neutral
tone, and placed at the end of the sentence to which they refer. They are often called modal
particles or yǔqì zhùcí (语气助词; 語氣助詞), as they serve chiefly to express grammatical mood,
or how the sentence relates to reality and/or intent. They include:[41]

ma (吗; 嗎), which changes a statement into a yes-no question

ne (呢), which expresses surprise, or produces a question "with expectation"

ba (吧), which serves as a tag question, e.g. "don't you think so?"; produces a suggestion e.g.
"let's..."; or lessens certainty of a decision.

a (啊),[m] which reduces forcefulness, particularly of an order or question. It can also be used
to add positive connotation to certain phrases or inject uncertainty when responding to a
question.

ou (呕; 噢), which signals a friendly warning

zhe (着; 著), which marks the inchoative aspect, or need for change of state, in imperative
sentences. Compare the imperfective aspect marker zhe in the section above)

le (了), which marks a "currently relevant state". This precedes any other sentence-final
particles, and can combine with a (啊) to produce la (啦); and with ou (呕; 噢) to produce lou
(喽; 囉).

This sentence-final le (了) should be distinguished from the verb suffix le (了) discussed in the
Aspects section. Whereas the sentence-final particle is sometimes described as an inceptive or
as a marker of perfect aspect, the verb suffix is described as a marker of perfective aspect.[42]
Some examples of its use:
 我 没 钱 了。 [我沒錢了。]
wǒ méi qián le  
I no money prf  
I have no money now or I've gone broke.

我 当 兵 了。 [我當兵了。]
wǒ dāng bīng le  
I work soldier prf  
I have become a soldier.

The position of le in this example emphasizes his present status as a soldier, rather than the
event of becoming. Compare with the post-verbal le example given in the Aspects section, wǒ
dāng le bīng.

他 看 三 场 球赛 了。 [他看三場球賽了。]
tā kàn sān chǎng qiúsài le  
He watch three sports-cl ballgames prf  
He [has] watched three ballgames.

Compared with the post-verbal le and guo examples, this places the focus on the number three,
and does not specify whether he is going to continue watching more games.

The two uses of le may in fact be traced back to two entirely different words.[43][44] The fact that
they are now written the same way in Mandarin can cause ambiguity, particularly when the verb
is not followed by an object. Consider the following sentence:

妈妈 来 了！ [媽媽來了！]
māma lái le  
Mom come le

This le might be interpreted as either the suffixal perfective marker or the sentence-final perfect
marker. In the former case it might mean "mother has come", as in she has just arrived at the
door, while in the latter it might mean "mother is coming!", and the speaker wants to inform
others of this fact. It is even possible for the two kinds of le to co-occur:[45]

他 吃 了 饭 了。 [他吃飯了]。
tā chī le fàn le  
He eat pfv food prf  
 He has eaten.

Without the first le, the sentence could again mean "he has eaten", or it could mean "he wants to
eat now". Without the final le the sentence would be ungrammatical without appropriate context,
as perfective le cannot appear in a semantically unbounded sentence.

Cleft sentences

There is a construction in Chinese known as the shì ... [de] construction, which produces what
may be called cleft sentences.[46] The copula shì (是) is placed before the element of the
sentence which is to be emphasized, and the optional possessive particle de (的) is placed at the
end of the sentence. For example:

他 是 昨天 买 菜 [的]。 [他是昨天買菜[的]。]
tā shì zuótiān mǎi cài [de]  
He shi yesterday buy food [de].  
It was yesterday that he bought food.

If an object following the verb, is to be emphasized in this construction, the shì precedes the
object, and the de comes after the verb and before the shì.

他 昨天 买 的 是 菜。 [他昨天買的是菜。]
tā zuótiān mǎi de shì cài  
He yesterday buy de shi vegetable.  
What he bought yesterday was vegetable.

Sentences with similar meaning can be produced using relative clauses. These may be called
pseudo-cleft sentences.

昨天 是 他 买 菜 的 时间。 [昨天是他買菜的時間。]
zuótiān shì tā mǎi cài de shíjiān  
yesterday is he buy food de time  
Yesterday was the time he bought food.[47]

Conjunctions
Chinese has various conjunctions (连词; 連詞; liáncí) such as hé (和, "and"), dànshì (但是, "but"),
huòzhě (或者, "or"), etc. However Chinese quite often uses no conjunction where English would
have "and".[48]

Two or more nouns may be joined together by the conjunctions hé (和, "and") or huò (或 "or"); for
example dāo hé chā (刀和叉, "knife and fork"), gǒu huò māo (狗或貓, "dog or cat").

Certain adverbs are often used as correlative conjunctions, where correlating words appear in
each of the linked clauses, such as búdàn ... érqiě (不但 ... 而且; 'not only ... (but) also'), suīrán ...
háishì (虽然 ... 还是; 雖然...還是; 'although ... still'), yīnwèi ... suǒyǐ (因为 ... 所以; 因為...所以;
'because ... therefore'). Such connectors may appear at the start of a clause or before the verb
phrase.[49]

Similarly, words like jìrán (既然, "since/in response to"), rúguǒ (如果) or jiǎrú (假如) "if", zhǐyào (只
要 "provided that") correlate with an adverb jiù (就, "then") or yě (也, "also") in the main clause, to
form conditional sentences.

In some cases, the same word may be repeated when connecting items; these include yòu ... yòu
... (又...又..., "both ... and ..."), yībiān ... yībiān ... (一边...一边..., "... while ..."), and yuè ... yuè ... (越...
越..., "the more ..., the more ...").

Conjunctions of time such as "when" may be translated with a construction that corresponds to
something like "at the time (+relative clause)", where as usual, the Chinese relative clause comes
before the noun ("time" in this case). For example:[50]

当 我 回 家 的 时候... [當我回家的時候...]
dāng wǒ huí jiā de shíhòu...  
At I return home de time  
When I return[ed] home...

Variants include dāng ... yǐqián (当...以前; 當...以前 "before ...") and dāng ... yǐhòu (当...以后; 當...以
後, "after ..."), which do not use the relative marker de. In all of these cases, the initial dāng may
be replaced by zài (在), or may be omitted. There are also similar constructions for conditionals:
rúguǒ /jiǎrú/zhǐyào ... dehuà (如果/假如/只要...的话, "if ... then"), where huà (话; 話) literally means
"narrative, story".

See also