Reference:Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide

Grammar Points by Chapter

1. Overview of pronunciation and Pinyin romanization
   • 1.1 The Mandarin syllable
   • 1.2 Pinyin romanization
2. Syllable, meaning, and word
   • 2.1 The special status of the Mandarin syllable
   • 2.2 Multi-syllable tendency in Mandarin words
   • 2.3 Word-specific tone changes
   • 2.4 Change in neutral tone
   • 2.5 Incorporating foreign words and naming foreign objects
3. The Chinese writing system: an overview
   • 3.1 Traditional and simplified characters
   • 3.2 The structure of Chinese characters the radical and the phonetic
   • 3.3 The traditional classification of characters
   • 3.4 Character stroke order 笔顺 bishun
4. Phrase order in the Mandarin sentence
   • 4.1 Basic phrase order
   • 4.2 The position of direct and indirect objects
   • 4.3 The position of prepositional phrases
   • 4.4 The position of location phrases
   • 4.5 The position of 'time when' phrases
   • 4.6 The relative order of the 'time when' phrase and the location phrase
   • 4.7 The position of adverbs
   • 4.8 The position of negation
   • 4.9 The position of duration phrases
   • 4.10 Order within the noun phrase
   • 4.11 Phrase order in questions
5. Nouns
   • 5.1 Common nouns
   • 5.2 Pronouns
   • 5.3 Proper nouns
6. Numbers
   • 6.1 Mandarin numbers 0-99
   • 6.2 Number 100 and higher
   • 6.3 Formal characters for numbers
   • 6.4 Ordinal numbers
   • 6.5 Estimates and approximations
   • 6.6 Fractions, percentages, decimals, half, and multiples
   • 6.7 Lucky and unlucky numbers
   • 6.8 Numbers used in phrases and expressions
   • 6.9 一 yi as a marker of sequence
   • 6.10 Numbers that are used as words
7. Specifiers and demonstratives
   • 7.1 这 zhe 'this' and 那 na 'that' as demonstratives
   • 7.2 这 zhe, zhei 'this/these' and 那 na, nei 'that/those' as specifiers
   • 7.3 这儿 zher and 这里 zheli 'here', 那儿 nar and 那里 nali 'there'
   • 7.4 Question words that correspond to specifiers
8. Classifiers
   • 8.1 The structure of phrases involving classifiers
   • 8.2 Choosing the classifier
   • 8.3 Omission of the head noun
   • 8.4 Classifiers that occur without a noun
   • 8.5 Money and prices
9. Noun phrases
   • 9.1 Modifying a noun with a specifier and/or number
   • 9.2 Modifying a noun with all other modifiers: modification with 的 de
   • 9.3 Omission of the particle 的 de
   • 9.4 Noun modifiers in a series
   • 9.5 Omission of the head noun
   • 9.6 Modification with 之 zhi
10. Adjectival verbs
    • 10.1 Negation of adjectival verbs
    • 10.2 Yes-no questions with adjectival verbs
    • 10.3 Modification by intensifiers
    • 10.4 Two syllable preference
    • 10.5 Comparative meaning
    • 10.6 Superlative meaning
    • 10.7 Adjectival verbs and comparison structures
    • 10.8 Linking adjectival verbs
    • 10.9 Adjectival verbs and expressions that indicate change over time
    • 10.10 Adjectival verbs and sentence final -了 le
11. Stative verbs
    • 11.1 Negation of stative verbs
    • 11.2 Modification of intensifiers
    • 11.3 Indicating completion, past time, and change of state
    • 11.4 The equational verb 是 shi 'to be'
    • 11.5 The equational verb 姓 xing 'to be family named'
    • 11.6 The verb of possession and existence: 有 you 'to have,' 'to exist'
    • 11.7 The location verb 在 zai 'to be located at'
12. Modal verbs
    • 12.1 Expressing possibility: 会 hui
    • 12.2 Expressing ability
    • 12.3 Expressing permission: 可以 keyi
    • 12.4 Expressing obligations
    • 12.5 Expressing prohibitions
    • 12.6 Grammatical properties of modal verbs
13. Action verbs
    • 13.1 Indicating that an action is completed or past
    • 13.2 Indicating that an action has been experienced in the past
    • 13.3 Negating actions
    • 13.4 Open-ended action verbs
    • 13.5 Change-of-state action verbs
14. Prepositions and prepositional phrases
    • 14.1 The grammar of the prepositional phrase in the Mandarin sentence
    • 14.2 Basic functions of prepositions
    • 14.3 Prepositions that also can function as verbs
15. Adverbs
    • 15.1 General properties of adverbs
    • 15.2 Adverbs with logical function: 也 ye, 都 dou, 还 hai, 就 jiu, 只 zhi, and 才 cai
16. Conjunctions
    • 16.1 Conjunctions that indicate an 'additive' or 'and' relationship
    • 16.2 Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or 'or' relationship
17. The passive
    • 17.1 The structure of the Mandarin passive
    • 17.2 The passive and negation
    • 17.3 Conditions for using the passive in Mandarin
    • 17.4 Differences between the passive markers 被 bei, 叫 jiao, and 让 rang
    • 17.5 Additional functions of 让 rang, 叫 jiao, and 给 gei
    • 17.6 English passives and their Mandarin equivalents
18. Names, kinship terms, titles, and terms of address
    • 18.1 Names: 姓名 xingming
    • 18.2 Kinship terms
    • 18.3 Titles
    • 18.4 Addressing others
    • 18.5 Addressing new acquaintances and negotiating terms of address
    • 18.6 Name cards and business cards
    • 18.7 Addressing letters and envelopes
19. Introductions
    • 19.1 The general format of introductions
    • 19.2 Sample introductions
    • 19.3 Common occupations and fields of study
20. Greetings and goodbyes
    • 20.1 Greetings in conversations
    • 20.2 Saying goodbye in conversations
    • 20.3 Greetings and goodbyes in letters
21. Basic strategies for communication
    • 21.1 Attracting someone's attention
    • 21.2 Responding to a call for attention
    • 21.3 Checking whether people have understood you
    • 21.4 Indicating understanding or lack of understanding
    • 21.5 Requesting repetition or clarification of spoken language
    • 21.6 Asking for assistance in identifying a Chinese character
    • 21.7 Providing information about the identification of Chinese characters
    • 21.8 Signaling that you are following the speaker
    • 21.9 Interrupting a speaker
    • 21.10 Using fillers
    • 21.11 Formal development of a topic
22. Telecommunications and e-communications: telephones, the internet, beepers, and faxes
    • 22.1 Sending and receiving phone calls, fazes, email, and beeper messages
    • 22.2 Dialing a number and entering a number
    • 22.3 Using the internet
    • 22.4 Telephone etiquette
    • 22.5 Writing and reciting phone numbers, fax numbers, and beeper numbers
23. Negating information
    • 23.1 Negation of verbs and verb phrases
    • 23.2 The relative order of negation and adverbs
    • 23.3 Words that occur with negation
    • 23.4 不 bu in resultative verb structures
    • 23.5 Literary markers of negation: 无 wu and 非 fei
24. Asking questions and replying to questions
    • 24.1 Yes-no questions
    • 24.2 Asking for agreement
    • 24.3 Choosing between alternatives with either-or questions
    • 24.4 Rhetorical questions
    • 24.5 Follow-up questions with 呢 ne
    • 24.6 Content questions
25. Expressing identification, possession, and existence
    • 25.1 Expressing identification
    • 25.2 Expressing possession
    • 25.3 Expressing existence
26. Describing people, places, and things
    • 26.1 Equational sentences: identifying or describing the subject with a noun phrase in the predicate
    • 26.2 Describing the subject with a predicate that is an adjectival verb
    • 26.3 Identifying or describing a noun with a modifying phrase
    • 26.4 Asking questions about the attributes of a person, place, or thing
    • 26.5 Describing an item in terms of the material that is made of
    • 26.6 Describing nouns in terms of attributes that imply comparison
    • 26.7 Describing person in terms of age
    • 26.8 Describing the weather
    • 26.9 Talking about illness and other medical conditions
27. Describing how actions are performed
    • 27.1 Describing the general or past performance of an action with a manner adverbial phrase
    • 27.2 Asking about the performance of an action
    • 27.3 Describing the performance of an entire action with an adverbial modifier
28. Indicating result, conclusion, potential, and extent
    • 28.1 Indicating the result or conclusion of an action with resultative verbs
    • 28.2 Indicating the ability to reach a conclusion or result: the potential infixes 得 de and 不 bu
    • 28.3 Summary of the functions of resultative verbs
    • 28.4 Indicating the ability to perform the verb: the potential suffexes 得了 deliao and 不了 buliao
29. Making comparisons
    • 29.1 Similarity
    • 29.2 Difference
    • 29.3 More than
    • 29.4 Less than
    • 29.5 Comparative degree
    • 29.6 Superlative degree
    • 29.7 Relative degree
30. Talking about the present
    • 30.1 Time expressions that indicate present time
    • 30.2 Using 在 zai and 正在 zhengzai to indicate ongoing actions in present time
    • 30.3 Using the final particle 呢 ne to indicate ongoing actions in present time
    • 30.4 Using 着 zhe to emphasize ongoing duration or an ongoing state in the present time
    • 30.5 Indicating present time by context
    • 30.6 Negation in present time situations
    • 30.7 Talking about actions that begin in the past and continue to present
    • 30.8 Describing situations that are generally true
31. Talking about habitual actions
    • 31.1 Expressing habitual time with the word 每 mei 'every/each'
    • 31.2 Expressing habitual time with 天天 tiantian and 年年 niannian
    • 31.3 Adverbs that describe habitual action
32. Talking about the future
    • 32.1 Time words that refer to future time
    • 32.2 Adverbs that refer to future time
    • 32.3 Indicating future time with the modal verb 会 hui
    • 32.4 Verbs that refer to the future
33. Indicating completion and talking about the past
    • 33.1 Completion: V -了 le
    • 33.2 Talking about sequence in the past
    • 33.3 Indicating that an action did not occur in the past
    • 33.4 Asking whether or not an action has occurred
    • 33.5 Indicating that an action occurred again in the past: 又 you verb 了 le
    • 33.6 Talking about past experience: verb suffix -过 guo
    • 33.7 Comparing the verb suffixes 过 guo and 了 le
    • 33.8 Adverbs that indicate past time
    • 33.9 Focusing on a detail of a past event with 是...的 shi...de
34. Talking about change, new situations, and changing situations
    • 34.1 Indicating that a situation represents a change
    • 34.2 Comparing sentences with and without sentence final -了 le
    • 34.3 Indicating change over time
    • 34.4 Nouns and verbs that express change
35. Talking about duration and frequency
    • 35.1 Specifying the length of an action with a duration phrase
    • 35.2 Emphasizing ongoing duration
    • 35.3 Indicating the ongoing duration of a background event
    • 35.4 Indicating frequency
36. Expressing additional information
    • 36.1 也 ye 'also'
    • 36.2 还 hai 'in addition, also'
    • 36.3 还有 hai you 'in addition'
    • 36.4 并且 bingqie 'moreover'
    • 36.5 再说 zai shuo 'besides, moreover, to put it another way'
    • 36.6 而 er 'and, but'
    • 36.7 和 he and 跟 gen 'and'
    • 36.8 不但...而且... budan...erqie... 'not only...but also...'
    • 36.9 又...又... you...you... 'both...and...'
    • 36.10 除了...以外 chule...yiwai 'besides...'
    • 36.11 另外 lingwai 'in addition' '(an)other'
37. Expressing contrast
    • 37.1 Expressing contrast with paired connecting words
    • 37.2 Adverbs that indicate contrast
    • 37.3 Qualifying a statement with an adjectival verb or stative verb
38. Expressing sequence
    • 38.1 Expressing the relationship 'before'
    • 38.2 Expressing the relationship 'after' in a single sentence
    • 38.3 Indicating that one event happens first and another event happens afterward
    • 38.4 Indicating 'afterward' in a separate sentence
    • 38.5 Comparing 以前 yiqian 'before' with 以后 yihou 'after'
39. Expressing simultaneous situations
    • 39.1 Indicating that one situation is the background for another situation
    • 39.2 Indicating that two actions occur at the same time
    • 39.3 Indicating that two actions occur in the same time frame
    • 39.4 Describing a subject in terms of two qualities that exist at the same time
    • 39.5 Indicating that a situation is reached at a specific point in time
    • 39.6 Presenting simultaneous situations
40. Expressing cause and effect or reason and result
    • 40.1 Expressing cause and effect or reason and result in a single sentence
    • 40.2 Introducing the cause of reason
    • 40.3 Introducing the effect or result
    • 40.4 Inquiring about cause or reason
41. Expressing conditions
    • 41.1 'If...then' conditional sentences
    • 41.2 'even if'
    • 41.3 'as long as'
    • 41.4 'only if', 'unless'
    • 41.5 'otherwise'
42. Expressing 'both,' 'all,' 'every,' 'any,' 'none,' 'not any,' and 'no matter how'
    • 42.1 Expressing 'both' and 'all'
    • 42.2 Expressing 'none'
    • 42.3 Expressing 'every'
    • 42.4 Expressing 'every,' 'any,' 'not any,' and 'no matter how' with question words
43. Expressing location and distance
    • 43.1 Location
    • 43.2 Indicating that an object exists or does not exist at a location
    • 43.3 Using location as a description
    • 43.4 Talking about distance
    • 43.5 Asking about distance
44. Talking about movement, directions, and means of transportation
    • 44.1 Talking about 'going' and 'coming'
    • 44.2 Talking about turning
    • 44.3 Talking about crossing
    • 44.4 Talking about arriving
    • 44.5 Talking about means of transportation
    • 44.6 asking about locations and asking for directions
    • 44.7 Asking for and giving directions: sample conversations
    • 44.8 Talking about directional movement
45. Talking about clock time and calendar time
    • 45.1 Clock time
    • 45.2 Calendar time
46. Expressing obligations and prohibitions
    • 46.1 Expressing obligations
    • 46.2 Expressing prohibitions, must not, should not
47. Expressing commands and permission
    • 47.1 Commands
    • 47.2 Permission
48. Expressing ability and possibility
    • 48.1 Expressing ability
    • 48.2 Expressing possibility
49. Expressing desires, needs, preferences, and willingness
    • 49.1 Expressing desires
    • 49.2 Expressing needs
    • 49.3 Expressing preferences
    • 49.4 Expressing willingness
50. Expressing knowledge, advice, and opinions
    • 50.1 Expressing knowledge
    • 50.2 Advice and opinions
51. Expressing fear, worry, and anxiety
    • 51.1 Expressing fear of something
    • 51.2 Expressing nervousness or anxiety
    • 51.3 Indicating that something is scary
    • 51.4 Indicating that something scares someone
52. Expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives
    • 52.1 Interjections
    • 52.2 Sentence final particles
53. Topic, focus. and emphasis
    • 53.1 Introducing a topic
    • 53.2 Focus
    • 53.3 Emphasis
54. Guest and host
    • 54.1 Welcoming the guest
    • 54.2 Offering food and drink
    • 54.3 Inviting the guest to get comfortable
    • 54.4 Saying goodbye and seeing the guest off
    • 54.5 Additional expressions involving guest and host
55. Giving and responding to compliments
    • 55.1 Cultural conventions regarding praise
    • 55.2 Expressions used in deflection praise
    • 55.3 Compliments and appropriate responses
56. Expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction
    • 56.1 Expressing satisfaction
    • 56.2 Expressing dissatisfaction
57. Expressing gratitude and responding to expressions of gratitude
    • 57.1 Expressing gratitude
    • 57.2 Replying to expressions of gratitude
58. Invitations, requests, and refusals
    • 58.1 Invitations
    • 58.2 Requests
    • 58.3 Refusals
    • 58.4 Abandoning a request
59. Expressing apologies, regrets, sympathy, and bad news
    • 59.1 Apologies and regrets
    • 59.2 Expressing sympathy
    • 59.3 Conveying bad news
60. Expressing congratulations and good wishes
    • 60.1 General expressions of congratulations and good wishes
    • 60.2 Fixed phrases of congratulations and good wishes for special events
    • 60.3 Replying to expressions of congratulations and good wishes.