Parts of Speech

"Part of speech" (词类 in Mandarin) is a key term in any book about grammar, and even any dictionary, for that matter. Common examples of a word's part of speech include noun, verb, adjective, and so on. Many native speakers are not at all clear on the parts of speech of the words they use on a daily basis. This is not a problem in any language, but if you're a learner that really wants to master Chinese grammar in all its subtle nuances, you'll find that classification by part of speech is a very useful tool. Part of speech comes in handy not just in instantly knowing the main ways a word can be used, but also in helping you can cut to the chase and identify the key exceptions and special properties of a word. In Mandarin Chinese, you'll frequently encounter words that push the boundaries of their parts of speech, or subcategories of words that act like freak "hybrids."

Part of speech is the tool which will help you start to make sense of what seems like a chaotic mess of words "just doing whatever they want." Don't worry; it's not as difficult as it sounds! We'll start by introducing the main concepts related to part of speech.

虚词 (Xuci) and 实词 (Shici)

Since ancient times, the words of the Chinese language have been grouped into two main categories: xuci (虚词) and shici (实词). The astute sinophile will notice the very dualistic nature of this classification system. These two words can be translated in many different ways, but here we'll use the term function words for the former, and content words for the latter.

Function Words (虚词)

The character 虚 refers to that which is "false" or "not real," or "empty." In this case, the words are "empty" in that they don't do anything by themselves. They serve important grammatical functions by making clear relationships between words, logical connections, or modifications of meaning. Hence, the Chinese word 虚词 is a bit difficult to translate, and is listed in the ABC Dictionary as all of the following: "function word/form word/cenematic word/empty word/syncategorematic word; functive; particle."

Function words are the "grammar words" of modern Chinese. They're the 了, the 着, the 于, the 向 the 和, and the 却. These are the ones that tend to give learners are a hard time. The good news is that it's not random words that are designated as function words; it's whole categories of words, whole parts of speech. The parts of speech classified as function words are: prepositions, conjunctions, and particles.

Content Words (实词)

As you might know (or guess), the character 实 means "real," "actual," "true." Contrary to function words, these content words refer to real objects in the real world, whether solid and palpable, or observable in some other way. These words refer to objects, actions, concepts, and even emotions, which exist in some real way as more than just grammatical tools.

The ABC lists all of the following translations for the Chinese word 实词: "notional word/plerematic word; autonomous word/content word/full word/lexical word; contentive; substantive." The parts of speech classified as content words are: nouns, pronouns, verbs, auxiliary verbs, adjectives, adverbs, number words, measure words, interjections, and onomatopoeia.

Part of Speech in Mandarin Chinese

• Content Words
  • Nouns
  • Pronouns
  • Verbs
  • Auxiliary Verbs (AKA Modal Verbs)
  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Number Words
  • Measure Words
  • Interjections
  • Onomatopoeia
• Function Words
  • Prepositions
  • Particles
  • Conjunctions