Beginner Guide to Chinese Grammar

As a beginner, Chinese grammar can be challenging to understand. In this quick overview, we will provide you with some basic information to start mastering the language!

Background

English is classified as an Indo-European language. This language family includes a lot of languages spoken in the western world, including the romance languages (such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese) as well as the Slavic languages (such as Russian, Czech, and Polish), and many others. All of these languages have common grammatical features which include conjugating verbs for different tenses, following specific rules about subject-verb agreement, and adding endings to words to make them plural.

Chinese is not part of the Indo-European family at all. Instead, it is classified as a Sino-Tibetan language, and, unsurprisingly, its grammar is quite different from the grammar of those European languages you may have encountered before. Still, Chinese grammar may surprise you with its pleasing simplicity and consistent logical structure.

Helpful Tools

As a language, Chinese does not have an alphabet. Instead, characters known as “hanzi” (汉字) are used to express the different sounds of the language. These characters can also be written using the roman letters in a system called “pinyin.” All beginners should learn pinyin first. Pinyin is provided for all Chinese characters on the A1 and A2 grammar point pages.

The Basics

When initially learning Chinese, there are a number of misconceptions about Chinese grammar. We will start this overview looking at some specific areas of Chinese grammar, listed below.

Word Order

For many simple cases, the basic sentence structure of Chinese is the same in Chinese as it is in English. Both languages use a subject-verb or subject-verb-object (SVO) formula for making sentences. This familiar pattern means that you shouldn't have much trouble with word order at first.

Subject-Verb Examples

Subject	Verb	Translation
你 Nǐ	吃。 chī.	You eat.
他 Tā	笑。 xiào.	He laughs.
我 Wǒ	去。 qù.	I go.

Subject-Verb-Object Examples

Subject	Verb	Object	Translation
我 Wǒ	吃 chī	肉。 ròu.	I eat meat.
你 Nǐ	喝 hē	水。 shuǐ.	You drink water.
他 Tā	说 shuō	中文。 Zhōngwén.	He speaks Chinese.

More examples can be found on our word order page. We also have pages to help you use time words in the correct word order, write simple noun-adjective sentences, and change the word order to adjust the emphasis of a sentence.

Questions

Simple sentences can be turned into yes/no questions by adding 吗 (ma). This modifies the sentence the same way adding “ok” or “right” to the end changes sentences in English. An English version of a sentence that uses 吗 (ma) might read: "You're good, right?"

• 他 是 你 哥哥 ， 对 吗 ？ (question)Tā shì nǐ gēge, duì ma?He is your older brother, right?
• 你 喜欢 咖啡 吗 ？ (question)Nǐ xǐhuan kāfēi ma?Do you like coffee?
• 他 是 老师 吗 ？ (question)Tā shì lǎoshī ma? Is he a teacher?

Another important question particle for beginners to understand is 呢 (ne). 呢 (Ne) is simply added after a topic to turn it into a "what about...?" question. This is useful in conversations to say things like "what about you?" or "what about my money?" This particle is simply tagged onto the subject to form the question.

• 你 说 他们 可以 去 。 我们 呢 ？ Nǐ shuō tāmen kěyǐ qù. Wǒmen ne? You said they can go. What about us?
• 北京 下 雨 了 。 上海 呢 ？ Běijīng xià yǔ le. Shànghǎi ne? It's raining in Beijing. How about Shanghai?
• 我 吃 饭 了 。 你 呢 ？ Wǒ chī fàn le. Nǐ ne? I've eaten. What about you?

There are of course other ways to form questions. In English, we use question words, commonly referred to as the "5 W's and 1 H" (what, where, who, when, why, how), to make questions. These question words also exist in Chinese, but their placement within a sentence is very important. The structure of a question follows the same structure as the response.

For example, in English the structure of the question to learn someone's name is "Who are you?" The person answering this question is going to say "I am Li Li." In Chinese, the structure of the question to learn someone's name is "You are who?" The question follows the same structure as the structure of the answer (subject-verb-object). This works for other questions too such as "It is what?" (Answer: "It is a ball.").

• 什么 shénmewhat
• 哪里、哪儿 nǎli, nǎrwhere
• 谁 shéiwho
• 什么时候 shénme shíhouwhen
• 为什么 wèishénmewhy
• 怎么 zěnmehow

Possession

Possession can be shown using the particle 的 (de). This character functions the same way as an apostrophe “s” does in English and is added after the "owner," before the "thing owned." One interesting result of this extremely versatile system is that you don't need separate words for "my" or "your" or "his"; you just follow the words for "I" or "you" or "he" with a 的 (de).

• 小李 的 手机Xiǎo Lǐ de shǒujīXiao Li's cell phone
• 我 的 手机Wǒ de shǒujīMy cell phone
• 公司 的 老板gōngsī de lǎobǎnthe company's boss
• 他 的 小狗Tā de xiǎogǒuHis puppy

Possession can also be expressed by talking about things you have. Just like we can say in English "I have the tickets" or "she has the camera" the particle 有 (yǒu) can be used to show this type of possession.

• 我 有 钱。Wǒ yǒu qián.I have money.
• 他 有 两 个 女儿 。Tā yǒu liǎng gè nǚér.He has two daughters.
• 你 有 工作 吗？Nǐ yǒu gōngzuò ma?Do you have a job?

Negation

You can use the same basic word order to express things that don’t happen. To express this negative action, the character 不 (bù) is placed before the verb. This functions much like the word "not" in English, but in fact, it is a lot simpler than English.

For example, in English when you negate the sentence "I speak English," instead of just "not" you actually have to add "do not," giving you "I do not speak English." In Chinese when you add 不 (bù) to the Chinese version of the sentence "I speak English," it just slips in right before the verb, no other chances necessary. So proper Chinese grammar would be "I not speak English." It's that simple!

• 她 不 喝 酒。Tā bù hē jiǔ.She doesn't drink beer.
• 我 不 想 工作。 Wǒ bù xiǎng gōngzuò.I don't want to work.
• 很多 年轻 人 不 运动。Hěn duō niánqīng rén bù yùndòng.Many young people don't exercise.

不 (bù) can be used to negate both verbs and adjectives.

When talking about what you do not "have," you use the particle 没 (méi) instead of 不 (bu). It is placed right before the verb 有 (yǒu) to form the "do not have" phrase 没有 (méiyǒu). This allows you to say sentences like "Walter doesn't have a car" or "Voltron doesn't have the books."

• 我 没 有 狗 。Wǒ méi yǒu gǒu. I don't have a dog.
• 我们 没 有 房子 。Wǒmen méi yǒu fángzi. We don't have a house.
• 我们 公司 没 有 电脑 。Wǒmen gōngsī méi yǒu diànnǎo. Our company doesn't have computers.

Aspect

Many beginners think that Chinese has no grammar. While this belief is false, it usually stems from the fact Chinese has no formal tenses to express events that took place in either the past or the future. Instead of tense, the language makes use of time words and puts more emphasis on aspect. You don't need to worry about this in the beginning; just remember to use time words to make clear when something happened, and the aspect thing will come with time.

Parts of Speech

All words can be broken up into parts of speech to define what the word describes. Here, we will briefly recap how these different parts work in English, and explain how the same rules apply to Chinese grammar.

Nouns are commonly referred to as "person, place, or thing" words. As you start learning more Chinese vocabulary, many of the words you will learn will be nouns. These will make up the subject and the object of a sentence.

Verbs are words that describe actions. Chinese does not conjugate verbs. The word stays the same regardless of when the action takes place or who performs it.

Here are some good verbs for beginners to start learning:

• 是 (Shì) - Verb for "To Be"
• 在 (Zài) - Verb for "To Be Located"
• 有 (Yǒu) - Verb for "There is/There are"
• 叫 (Jiào) - Verb for "To Be Called"
• 去 (Qù) - Verb for "To Go"
• 姓 (Xìng) - Verb for "To Have the Surname"
• 要 (Yào) - Verb for "To Be Going To"
• 能 (Néng) - Verb for "To Have The Ability/Possibility"
• 可以 (Kěyǐ) - Verb for "To Have Permission"
• 要 (Yào) - Verb for "To Want To Do"

Adverbs are words that describe verbs. In Chinese, the adverb always goes before the verb. Instead of saying "I run too," proper grammar in Chinese would be "I too run." It's easy, and it's always done the same way!

Here are some good adverbs for beginners to start learning:

• 都 (Dōu) - Adverb for "All"
• 也 (Yě) - Adverb for "Also"
• 太 (Tài) - Adverb for "Excessively"

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Chinese has some unique rules about how adjectives interact with different nouns and verbs.

Here are some good adjective rules for beginners to start learning:

• Simple Sentences with Adjectives
• 是 (Shì) - Verb for "To Be" Adjectives are dropped when using this verb

Conjunctions are words that join two thoughts together in a sentence. The three most common ones in English are "and" "but" and "or." As you learn more about each of them in Chinese, you will learn some of the different ways they can be used in sentences.

Here are some good conjunctions for beginners to start learning:

• 和 (Hé) - Conjunction for "and"
• 还是 (Háishì) - Conjunction for "or"

Articles are kind of a confusing concept in English, but basically the only English articles are "a" "an" and "the." We use them when saying things like "I have a laptop" or "Open the door." In Chinese, articles don't exist. There is no word for "a" or "the." It makes it really easy and there are no confusing rules to memorize!

Measure Words are words that describe numbers. We don't have them in English, but they allow you to say exactly what the value (or measure) of something was. As you read about how to use measure words, you'll see that even though it is a little new, it is actually very easy!

Here are some good measure words for beginners to start learning.

• Measure Word 个 (Ge)
• Measure Words 二 (Èr) and 两 (Liǎng)

Numbers are the words we use to express certain quantities. We use numbers to express value, time, and other important functions in our lives. They can be used for all of these same functions in Chinese.

Here are some good number structures for beginners to start learning.

• Structure of Days of the Week
• Structure of Times
• Structure of Dates

Ready for more?

Of course all of this is just the beginning. There are many more interesting characters and rules that can help you say lots of different things in Chinese. Take a look at the Grammar Points by Level page to see where you should start, then check out the A1 page for more information.