Difference between revisions of "Basic sentence order"
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<table class="table big-text table-striped table-bordered"> | <table class="table big-text table-striped table-bordered"> | ||
<tr><th>Subject</th><th>Verb</th><th>Object</th><th>Translation</th></tr> | <tr><th>Subject</th><th>Verb</th><th>Object</th><th>Translation</th></tr> | ||
| − | <tr><td>他们< | + | <tr><td>他们<span class="pinyin">Tāmen</span></td><td>吃<span class="pinyin">chī</span></td><td>肉。<span class="pinyin">ròu.</span></td><td>They eat meat.</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>你< | + | <tr><td>你<span class="pinyin">Nǐ</span></td><td>喝<span class="pinyin">hē</span></td><td>茶 吗？<span class="pinyin">chá ma?</span></td><td>Do you drink tea?</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>我< | + | <tr><td>我<span class="pinyin">Wǒ</span></td><td>去<span class="pinyin">qù</span></td><td>学校。<span class="pinyin">xuéxiào.</span></td><td>I go to school.</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>他< | + | <tr><td>他<span class="pinyin">Tā</span></td><td>说<span class="pinyin">shuō</span></td><td>中文。<span class="pinyin">Zhōngwén.</span></td><td>He speaks Chinese.</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>你< | + | <tr><td>你<span class="pinyin">Nǐ</span></td><td>喜欢<span class="pinyin">xǐhuan</span></td><td> 孩子 吗？<span class="pinyin">háizi ma?</span></td><td>Do you like kids?</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>我们< | + | <tr><td>我们<span class="pinyin">Wǒmen</span></td><td>要 买<span class="pinyin">yào mǎi</span></td><td>电脑。<span class="pinyin">diànnǎo.</span></td><td>We want to buy a computer.</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>你们< | + | <tr><td>你们<span class="pinyin">Nǐmen</span></td><td>想 吃<span class="pinyin">xiǎng chī</span></td><td>中国 菜 吗？<span class="pinyin">Zhōngguó cài ma?</span></td><td>Do you want to eat Chinese food?</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>我< | + | <tr><td>我<span class="pinyin">Wǒ</span></td><td>爱<span class="pinyin">ài</span></td><td>你 和 爸爸。<span class="pinyin">nǐ hé bàba.</span></td><td>I love you and dad.</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>他们< | + | <tr><td>他们<span class="pinyin">Tāmen</span></td><td>要 做<span class="pinyin">yào zuò</span></td><td>什么？<span class="pinyin">shénme?</span></td><td>What do they want to do?</td></tr> |
| − | <tr><td>你< | + | <tr><td>你<span class="pinyin">Nǐ</span></td><td>想 去<span class="pinyin">xiǎng qù</span></td><td>什么 地方？<span class="pinyin">shénme dìfang?</span></td><td>What place do you want to go?</td></tr> |
</table> | </table> | ||
Revision as of 01:50, 18 March 2016
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Keywords
In its most basic form, Chinese word order is very similar to English word order. These similarities definitely have their limits, though; don't expect the two languages' word orders to stay consistent for anything past the very basic sentence orders outlined below.
Contents
Subject-predicate
The most basic word order in Chinese is:
Structure
Subj. + Verb
You can form very simple sentences with just two words.
Examples
| Subject | Verb | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 你们 | 吃。 | You eat. |
| 他 | 笑。 | He laughs. |
| 我 | 读。 | I read. |
| 你 | 去。 | You go. |
| 你们 | 看。 | You look. |
| 你 | 来。 | You come here! |
| 我 | 说。 | I speak. |
| 孩子 | 哭。 | Children cry. |
| 谁 | 要 学？ | Who wants to study? |
| 谁 | 想 玩？ | Who wants to play? |
Subject-verb-object
A basic sentence usually has an object, and is formed with this structure:
Structure
Subj.+ Verb + Obj.
This is the same as in English, and is commonly referred to as SVO word order. You can express a huge variety of things with this simple structure.
Examples
| Subject | Verb | Object | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 他们 | 吃 | 肉。 | They eat meat. |
| 你 | 喝 | 茶 吗？ | Do you drink tea? |
| 我 | 去 | 学校。 | I go to school. |
| 他 | 说 | 中文。 | He speaks Chinese. |
| 你 | 喜欢 | 孩子 吗？ | Do you like kids? |
| 我们 | 要 买 | 电脑。 | We want to buy a computer. |
| 你们 | 想 吃 | 中国 菜 吗？ | Do you want to eat Chinese food? |
| 我 | 爱 | 你 和 爸爸。 | I love you and dad. |
| 他们 | 要 做 | 什么？ | What do they want to do? |
| 你 | 想 去 | 什么 地方？ | What place do you want to go? |
When it all falls apart
Despite the convenient word order similarities highlighted above, things start to break down as soon as you start adding in such simple sentence elements as the "also" adverb 也 (yě), a time word, or a location where something happened.
Don't worry; the more complicated Chinese structures aren't hard, they're just different! (If Chinese word order were really the same as English word order, that would be just a little too convenient, wouldn't it?)
See also
- Word order (a more in depth article)
- Time words and word order
- Topic-comment sentences
- Simple "noun + adjective" sentences
- Using "zai" with verbs
- Expressing location with "zai...shang/xia/li"
