Glossary

Action verb — 动作动词/行为动词 Also known as: 动作动词 (dòngzuò dòngcí) and 行为动词 (xíngwéi dòngcí). Action verbs describe what a subject did, is doing, or will do, physically.

Action-measure complement — 动量补语

Adjective — 形容词 Also known as: 形容词 (xíngróngcí). Adjectives are the "describing" words of a language. In Chinese, they have some characteristics that they don't have in English.

Adjectival predicate sentence — 形容词谓语句 Also known as: 形容词谓语句 (xíngróngcí wèiyǔ jù) and 形容词性谓语句 (xíngróngcí-xìng wèiyǔ jù). A fancy name for a sentence where the predicate consists of an adjective.

Adverb — 副词 Also known as: 副词 (fùcí). Adverbs are words that modify verbs and adjectives. In Chinese, word order of adverbs is much stricter than in English. Chinese adverbs normally come before the main verb of a sentence, but in some cases come right at the beginning of a sentence.

Adverbial — 状语 Also known as: 状语 (zhuàngyǔ). An adverbial is a sentence element that functions like an adverb, modifying a verb or adjective.

Affirmative-negative questions — 正反问句

Affixes — 词缀

Aspect — 动作状态/语态 Also known as: 动作状态 (dòngzuò zhuàngtài). Chinese does not use the concept of formal tenses. Instead, it employs what is called "grammatical aspect." Rather than conjugating its verbs, Chinese uses particles to indicate how a verb works within a particular timeframe, or how the verb relates to the flow of time. The particles most often used to indicate aspect in Chinese are 了 (le), 过 (guo), and 着 (zhe).

Aspectual particle — 时态助词/动态助词 Also known as: 动态助词 (dòngtài zhùcí). These words are added to verbs to indicate aspect (not the same as tense). The particles most often used to indicate aspect in Chinese are 了 (le), 过 (guo), and 着 (zhe).

Attributive — 定语 Also known as: 定语 (dìngyǔ). An attributive is the word or phrase that directly precedes the noun it describes. Frequently it is linked to the noun with the structural particle 的 (de).

Auxiliary verb — 助动词/情态动词/能愿动词 Also known as: modal verb, 助动词 (zhùdòngcí), 情态动词 (qíngtài dòngcí) and 能愿动词 (néngyuàn dòngcí). Auxiliary verbs are "helping" verbs that come before main verbs and help express a tone or mood. (The word "modal" comes from "mood.") In English, auxiliary verbs include words like "should," "will," and "can," which all change something about the situation and the speaker's attitude. Auxiliary verbs express capability, possibility, necessity, obligation or willingness.

Cardinal number — 基数词 Also known as: 基数词 (jīshùcí). Cardinal numbers are numbers such as 1, 2, or 3 used to indicate quantity. They contrast with ordinal numbers.

Causative verb — 使令动词/使役动词 Also known as: 使令动词 (shǐlìng dòngcí) and 使役动词 (shǐyì dòngcí). A causative verb is a kind of verb that is used to indicate that someone or something causes something else to do or be something. In Chinese, 让 (ràng) is a major player in this space.

Complement — 补语 Also known as: 补语 (bǔyǔ) and objective complement. A complement is a word or phrase following a verb (or sometimes an adjective) that provides additional meaning to the verb phrase. Complements are not the same as objects, and can be as short as one character, or practically as long as a sentence. Complements provide additional information associated with verbs, such as degree, result, direction or possibility, and are extremely common. Complements are not a form of flattery (those are compliments); they're much more versatile than that!

Complement of degree — see degree complement

Complement of direction — see directional complement

Complement of potentiality — see potential complement

Complement of quantity — see quantitative complement

Complement of result — see result complement

Complement of state — 情态补语

Complement of time-measure — 时量补语

Complex sentence — 复句 Also known as: 复句 (fùjù). A complex sentence is a sentence with one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

Conjunction — 连词 Also known as: 连词 (liáncí). Conjunctions in Chinese do exactly what they do in English: connect things. They help make the transition between ideas smoother and also show the relationships between those ideas.

Content Word — 实词

Degree adverb — 程度副词 Also known as: 程度副词 (chéngdù fùcí) and adverb of degree. Degree adverbs intensify or in some other way modify the degree of expression of the adjective (or verb).

Degree complement — 程度补语 Also known as: 程度补语 (chéngdù bǔyǔ) and complement of degree. While most complements follow verbs, degree complements can follow both verbs and adjectives. These complements intensify or modify the degree of expression of the verb or adjective.

Demonstrative pronoun — 指示代词 Also known as: 指示代词 (zhǐshì dàicí). A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun used in the place of a noun and specifies what is being referred to.

Dependent clause — 从句 Also known as: 从句 (cóngjù). A dependent clause is dependent on and modifies an independent clause. Dependent clauses have a subject and verb, but also start with a subordinate conjunction, making it clear that they are not meant to stand on their own.

Direct object — 直接宾语 Also known as: 直接宾语 (zhíjiē bīnyǔ). A direct object is what is being acted upon, thus receiving the action of a verb. In Chinese grammar, direct objects are often simply referred to as "objects."

Directional verb — 趋向动词 Also known as: 趋向动词 (qūxiàng dòngcí). Directional verbs can be added to other verbs in a direction complement, illustrating which direction the verb is going.

Directional complement — 趋向补语

Distinguishing word — 区别词 Also known as: 区别词 (qūbiécí) and attributive adjective. "Distinguishing words" are rather foreign to the English speaker. On the surface they may seem like regular adjectives, but distinguishing words cannot have degree, so they cannot be modified by adverbs. Unlike normal adjectives, sentences involving distinguishing words use 是 (shì), and usually 的 (de) as well. Common words include the Chinese words for "male," "female," "real," "fake," and colors.

Existential verb — 存现动词 Also known as: 存现动词 (cúnxiàn dòngcí). Existential verbs declare the existence or nonexistence of things.

Judgement verb — 判断动词/关系动词

Indirect object — 间接宾语 Also known as: 间接宾语 (jiànjiē bīnyǔ). Indirect objects occur when there are two objects in a sentence. The indirect object is for/to whom/what the action of the verb is done and who/what is receiving the direct object. In Chinese grammar, indirect objects are often referred to as second objects.

Independent clause — 主句 Also known as: 主句 (zhǔjù). An independent clause is a clause that has a subject and a predicate that modifies the subject, allowing it to stand alone as a sentence.

Independent phrase — 独立语 Also known as: 独立语 (dúlì yǔ). An independent phrase has no subject acting out the verb in the sentence.

Interjection — 叹词/感叹词 Also known as: 叹词 (tàncí) and 感叹词 (gǎntàncí). This type of word is used in exclamations or various kinds of emotional response.

Interrogative pronoun — 疑问代词

Intransitive verb — 不及物动词 Also known as: 不及物动词 (bùjíwù dòngcí). Intransitive verbs are verbs which take no direct object.

Location noun — 方位名词

Main clause — see independent clause

Main sentence — see main clause

Measure word — 量词 Also known as: 量词 (liàngcí) and classifier. Measure words are used together with numerals to indicate the quantity of a noun, and sometimes even of an action. The general term for "measure word" in linguistics is "classifier," because measure words involve some kind of classification of the noun (or action) being counted.

Mimetic word — see onomatopoeia

Modal particle — 语气助词/语气词 Also known as: 语气助词 (yǔqì zhùcí), 语气词 (yǔqì cí), Sentence-final particle and Sentential particle. Modal particles are words used at the end of sentences to indicate mood, or attitude. They tend to be neutral tone and hard to translate, but they add a bit of "flavor" to a sentence. See also particles.

Modal verb — See auxiliary Verb"

Negative adverb — 否定副词 Also known as: 否定副词 (fǒudìng fùcí). Negative adverbs negate verbs and adjectives to make a negative statement. The main ones in Chinese are 不 (bù) and 没 (méi).

Non-subject-predicate construction — 非主谓句 Also known as: 非主谓句 (fēi zhǔwèi jù).

Noun — 名词 Also known as: 名词 (míngcí). You may have learned these as "person, place, or thing." Nouns often act as subjects, are modified by adjectives, and can be counted with measure words in Chinese.

Noun measure word — 名量词 Also known as: 名量词 (míngliàngcí) and nominal measure word. As the name suggests, these are measure words that are only used for nouns.

Noun phrase — 名词短语 Also known as: 名词性短语 (míngcí-xìng duǎnyǔ). A noun phrase is a phrase with a noun or pronoun as a head word that has any sort of modifier.

Numeral — 数词 Also known as: 数词 (shùcí). A numeral is a symbol that represents a number.

Nominal predicate sentence — 名词谓语句 Also known as: 名词谓语句 (míngcí wèiyǔjù). Nominal predicate sentences are sentences with a noun phrase that functions as the main predicate of the sentence.

Object — 宾语 Also known as: 宾语 (bīnyǔ). The object is the receiver of the action of the verb.

Object pre-position — 宾语前置 Also known as: 宾语前置 (bīnyǔ qiánzhì). The object of a preposition is the word that follows a preposition, which the preposition refers to.

Onomatopoeia — 象声词/拟声词 Also known as: 象声词 (xiàngshēngcí) and 拟声词 (nǐshēngcí). Onomatopoeia are words which represent sounds and noises.

Ordinal number — 序数词 Also known as: 序数词 (xùshù cí). Ordinal numbers are numbers used to express rank or sequence. Think "1st," "2nd," etc. Ordinal numbers contrast with cardinal numbers.

Particle — 助词 Also known as: 助词 (zhùcí). Particles are function words that depend on other words or phrases to impart meaning. They're kind of like prepositions, but more abstract. In Chinese, the key ones are aspectual particles (for indicating aspect), structural particles (for indicating relationships between words), and modal particles (for indicating mood). Chinese particles are also special words because they tend to always take the neutral tone.

Passive structure — 被动结构/被动句式/被动语态

Personal pronoun — 人称代词 Also known as: 人称代词 (rénchēng dàicí). Personal pronouns include 我 (wǒ), 你 (nǐ), 他 (tā), and 她 (tā). To make them plural, all you need to do is add the suffix -们 (-men) to them. There is also a polite second person form 您 (nín), which cannot normally take the -们 (-men) suffix.

Place noun — 处所名词 Also known as: 处所名词 (chùsuǒ míngcí). Place nouns are nouns describing the position or place of something.

Place adverb — 处所副词 Also known as: 处所副词 (chùsuǒ fùcí), location adverb, adverb of place and adverb of location. Place adverbs modify the location of a verbs or adjective.

Placement verb — see existential verb

Phrase — 短语/词组 Also known as: 短语 (duǎnyǔ) and 词组 (cízǔ). A phrase is a group of words that expresses a concept. It can be focused on fleshing out a particular word, as in a noun phrase or verb phrase. See also clause, which expresses a more complete thought.

Possessive pronoun — 物主代词 Also known as: 物主代词 (wùzhǔ dàicí). Possessive pronouns take the place of a noun and show ownership.

Potential complement — 可能补语 Verbs can take potential complements to indicate whether or not an action is possible. Potential complements contain a 得 (de) or a 不 (bu) immediate after the verb being modified, and are quite common in everyday spoken Mandarin.

Predicate — 谓语 Also known as: 谓语 (wèiyǔ). Predicates are the main verb or verb phrase of a sentence, and state something about the subject. Aside from verbs, adjectives and sometimes even nouns can be predicates as well. See basic sentence order for more examples.

Preposition — 介词 Also known as: 介词 (jiècí). Prepositions are words that indicate location or direction. They are called "pre"-positions because they are positioned before the words that they modify.

Prepositional phrase — 介词短语 Also known as: 介词短语 (jiècí duǎnyǔ). A prepositional phrase is a phrase beginning with a preposition that precedes the word it modifies and clarifies that word's relationship with another word in the sentence.

Pronoun — 代词 Also known as: 代词 (dàicí). Pronouns substitute in for regular nouns and proper nouns to avoid unnecessary repetition of the same words over and over again.

Proper noun — 专有名词 Also known as: 专有名词 (zhuānyǒu míngcí). A proper noun is specific person, place or thing. Proper nouns are generally capitalized (e.g. Anubis, Asgard, AllSet Learning), both in English and in pinyin.

Psychological verb — 心理动词 Also known as: 心理动词 (xīnlǐ dòngcí) and psych verb. A psychological verb is a verb that conveys the speaker's mental state or attitude.

Qualitative adjective — 性质形容词 Also known as: 性质形容词 (xìngzhì xíngróngcí). Qualitative adjectives describe the quality or nature of something.

Quantitative phrase — 数量短语 Also known as: 数量短语 (shùliàng duǎnyǔ). Quantitative phrases express a measurement of amount.

Quantitative complement — 数量补语

Question pronoun — see interrogative pronoun

Relational verb — see judgement verb

Result complement — 结果补语 Also known as: 结果补语 (jiéguǒ bǔyǔ), complement of result, resultative complement and result compound. Result complements are a kind of verbal complement that appears very frequently in Chinese. Surprisingly enough, they're used to describe the result of a verb.

Scope adverb — 范围副词 Also known as: 范围副词 (fànwéi fùcí). Scope adverbs modify and expand a verb or adjective.

Sentence with a nominal predicate — see nominal predicate sentence

Sentence with a verbal predicate — 动词谓语句 Also known as: 动词谓语句 (dòngcí wèiyǔ jù). A sentence with a verb as the main element of its predicate is called a sentence with a verbal predicate. This type of sentence is extremely common.

Sentence with an adjectival predicate — see adjectival predicate sentence

Sentence with a subject-predicate structure as predicate — 主谓谓语句 Also known as: 主谓谓语句 (zhǔ-wèi wèiyǔ jù).

Sentence-final particle — see modal particle

Sentential particle — see modal particle

Separable verb — 离合词 Also known as: 离合词 (líhécí) and verb-object phrase. "Separable verbs" get their name from their ability to "separate" into two parts (a verb part and an object part), with other words in between. In fact, you could also simply call separable verbs "verb-object phrases."

Subject — 主语 Also known as: 主语 (zhǔyǔ). A subject is a noun or pronoun that the sentence centers around. It is the actor of the verb and is what something is said about.

Subject-predicate construction — 主谓结构 Also known as: 主谓结构 (zhǔ-wèi jiégòu). The subject-predicate construction consists of a subject and a predicate, and may be part of a larger sentence, or may serve as a sentence on its own.

Subject-predicate sentence — 主谓句 Also known as: 主谓句 (zhǔ-wèi jù). A sentence composed of a subject and a predicate. The vast majority of sentences fit this description.

Subordinate clause — see dependent clause

Stative adjective — 状态形容词 Also known as: 状态形容词 (zhuàngtài xíngróngcí). A stative adjective is an adjective describing a relatively unchanging or permanent condition/state.

Stative verb — 静态动词/状态动词 Also known as: 状态动词 (zhuàngtài dòngcí), 静态动词 (jìngtài dòngcí), state verb and static verb. A stative verb is a verb describing a relatively unchanging or permanent condition/state. Stative verbs in Mandarin are usually translated as adjectives in English.

Structural particle — 结构助词 Also known as: 结构助词 (jiégòu zhùcí). A structural particle is a function word that denotes the structural/grammatical relationship between elements of a sentence.

Time adverb — 时间副词 Also known as: 时间副词 (shíjiān fùcí). Adverbs of time express the when, how long, or how often of a verb.

Time phrase — 时间短语 Also known as: 时间短语 (shíjiān duǎnyǔ). A time phrase occurs before the verb phrase and indicates the when, how long, or how often of a situation.

Time noun — 时间名词 Also known as: 时间名词 (shíjiān míngcí), 时间词 (shíjiāncí), time nominal and temporal noun. Time nouns are nouns that provide information regarding time. One reason they're noteworthy in Chinese is that words indicating time in English are often adverbs, whereas their Chinese counterparts are nouns.

Tone adverb — 语气副词

Topic-comment structure — 主题句/主题结构/主题-评论结构/主题-述题结构/主题评述结构 Also known as: 主题句 (zhǔtí-jù), 主题结构 (zhǔtí jiégòu), 主题评论结构 (zhǔtí-pínglùn jiégòu), 主题述题结构 (zhǔtí-shùtí jiégòu) and 主题评述结构 (zhǔtí-píngshù jiégòu). A topic-comment structure is an alternative to the typical subject-predicate sentence structure, whereby a topic (or theme) is followed by the speaker's comment on that topic. The topic is not the "doer" (subject) of the sentence, but rather sets the scope of the comments (some thoughts related to the topic).

Transitive verb — 及物动词 Also known as: 及物动词 (jíwù dòngcí). A transitive verb is an verb which takes a direct object.

Verb — 动词 Also known as: 动词 (dòngcí). Verbs are the "action" words which make up the predicates of most sentences, but may also simply indicate relationships, changes, or mental activity rather than physical actions. Verbs may take objects, and can also be reduplicated in Chinese. They can be negated, as well as modified by particles.

Verb measure word — 动量词 Also known as: 动量词 (dòng liàngcí), verbal measure word and verbal classifier. A verb measure word accompanies the number of times a verb occurred to count the frequency or re-occurrence of an action. See: Measure words for verbs

Verb phrase — 动词短语 Also known as: 动词性短语 (dòngcí-xìng duǎnyǔ) and verbal phrase. A verb phrase is a phrase with a verb as a head word that has any sort of modifier. It commonly includes modal verbs before it and objects after it.

Verbal predicate sentence — see sentence with a verbal predicate

Action verb 动作动词/行为动词
Action-measure complement 动量补语
Adjective 形容词
Adjectival predicate sentence 形容词谓语句
Adverb 副词
Adverbial 状语
Affirmative-negative questions 正反问句
Affixes 词缀
Aspect 动作状态/语态
Aspectual particle 时态助词/动态助词
Attributive 定语
Auxiliary verb 助动词/情态动词/能愿动词
Cardinal number 基数词
Causative verb 使令动词/使役动词
Complement 补语
Complement of degree - see degree complement
Complement of direction - see directional complement
Complement of potentiality see potential complement
Complement of quantity - see quantitative complement
Complement of result - see result complement
Complement of state 情态补语
Complement of time-measure 时量补语
Complex sentence 复句
Conjunction 连词
Content Word 实词
Degree adverb 程度副词
Degree complement 程度补语
Demonstrative pronoun 指示代词
Dependent clause 从句
Direct object 直接宾语
Directional verb 趋向动词
Directional complement 趋向补语
Distinguishing word 区别词
Existential verb 存现动词
Judgement verb 判断动词/关系动词
Indirect object 间接宾语
Independent clause 主句
Independent phrase 独立语
Interjection 叹词/感叹词
Interrogative pronoun 疑问代词
Intransitive verb 不及物动词
Location noun 方位名词
Main clause - see independent clause
Main sentence - see main clause
Measure word 量词
Mimetic word - see onomatopoeia
Modal particle 语气助词/语气词
Modal verb - See auxiliary Verb"
Negative adverb 否定副词
Non-subject-predicate construction 非主谓句
Noun 名词
Noun measure word 名量词
Noun phrase 名词短语
Numeral 数词
Nominal predicate sentence 名词谓语句
Object 宾语
Object pre-position 宾语前置
Onomatopoeia 象声词/拟声词
Ordinal number 序数词
Particle 助词
Passive structure 被动结构/被动句式/被动语态
Personal pronoun 人称代词
Place noun 处所名词
Place adverb 处所副词
Placement verb - see existential verb
Phrase 短语/词组
Possessive pronoun 物主代词
Potential complement 可能补语
Predicate 谓语
Preposition 介词
Prepositional phrase 介词短语
Pronoun 代词
Proper noun 专有名词
Psychological verb 心理动词
Qualitative adjective 性质形容词
Quantitative phrase 数量短语
Quantitative complement 数量补语
Question pronoun - see interrogative pronoun
Relational verb - see judgement verb
Result complement 结果补语
Scope adverb 范围副词
Sentence with a nominal predicate - see nominal predicate sentence
Sentence with a verbal predicate 动词谓语句
Sentence with an adjectival predicate - see adjectival predicate sentence
Sentence with a subject-predicate structure as predicate 主谓谓语句
Sentence-final particle - see modal particle
Sentential particle - see modal particle
Separable verb 离合词
Subject 主语
Subject-predicate construction 主谓结构
Subject-predicate sentence 主谓句
Subordinate clause - see dependent clause
Stative adjective 状态形容词
Stative verb 静态动词/状态动词
Structural particle 结构助词
Time adverb 时间副词
Time phrase 时间短语
Time noun 时间名词
Tone adverb 语气副词
Topic-comment structure 主题句/主题结构/主题-评论结构/主题-述题结构/主题评述结构
Transitive verb 及物动词
Verb 动词
Verb measure word 动量词
Verb phrase 动词短语
Verbal predicate sentence - see sentence with a verbal predicate