Difference between revisions of "Time words and word order"
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| − | * <em>昨天</em> 我 去 了 酒吧。 | + | * <em>昨天</em> 我 去 了 酒吧。<span class="trans">I went to the bar yesterday.</span> |
| − | * 我 <em>昨天</em> 去 了 酒吧。 | + | * 我 <em>昨天</em> 去 了 酒吧。<span class="trans">I went to the bar yesterday.</span> |
| − | * <em>下 个 星期</em> 他 要 回国。 | + | * <em>下 个 星期</em> 他 要 回国。<span class="trans">He is going back to his country next week.</span> |
| − | * 他 <em>下 个 星期</em> 要 回国。 | + | * 他 <em>下 个 星期</em> 要 回国。<span class="trans">He is going back to his country next week.</span> |
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Revision as of 07:10, 3 June 2013
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Level
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Used for
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Keywords
Remembering where to put the time words, such as "yesterday", "tomorrow", "this week" etc., in a sentence is really important to speaking Chinese correctly. Luckily, it's similar to English, so it's easy to master.
Structure
In Chinese, time words can appear in one of two positions in the sentence: either at the beginning of the sentence (before the subject), or directly after the subject. The structures are:
Time + Subject + Verb + Object
Subject + Time + Verb + Object
So this is one of the rare occasions where if you start speaking with English word order (time first), you can carry on and get away with it.
Examples
- 昨天 我 去 了 酒吧。I went to the bar yesterday.
- 我 昨天 去 了 酒吧。I went to the bar yesterday.
- 下 个 星期 他 要 回国。He is going back to his country next week.
- 他 下 个 星期 要 回国。He is going back to his country next week.
See also
Sources and further reading
Books
- Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 75-7) →buy
- Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 205-6) →buy
