Beginner Guide to Chinese Grammar
As a beginner, Chinese grammar can be challenging to understand. In this quick review, we will provide you with some basic tools to start mastering the language!
Contents
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 grammar features which include conjugating verbs for different tenses, specific rules about subject/verb agreement, and adding endings to words to make them plural.
Chinese does not fit into the Indo-European family. Instead, it is classified as a Sino-Tibetan language and as a result the grammar can be kind of confusing for second language learners.
Helpful Tools
As a language, Chinese does not have an actual alphabet. Instead, characters known as “hanzi” 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 download the Pinyin Browser Extension to be able to read the Chinese characters on the site.
The Basics
When initially learning Chinese, there are a number of misconceptions about Chinese grammar. We will start this overview looking at six specific areas of Chinese grammar. They are Word order • Questions • Possessives • Negation • Aspect • Parts of Speech
Word Order
In many cases, the basic sentence structure is the same in Chinese as it is in English. Both languages use a subject-verb or a subject-verb-object formula for writing sentences. This means that the subject of your sentence does something.
Subject-Verb Examples
| Subject | Verb | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 你 | 吃。 | You eat. |
| 他 | 笑。 | He laughs. |
| 我 | 去。 | I go. |
Subject-Verb-Object Examples
| Subject | Verb | Object | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我 | 吃 | 肉。 | I eat meat. |
| 你 | 喝 | 汤。 | You drink soup. |
| 他 | 说 | 中文。 | 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 up the word order to comment on specific topics.
Questions
Simple sentences can be turned into yes/no questions by adding 吗(“ma”). This modifies the sentence the same way “ok” or “right” modifies a sentences in English. An English version of a sentence that uses 吗("ma") might read: "You are good, right?"
- 他 是 你 哥哥，对 吗？He is your older brother, right?
- 你 喜欢 咖啡 吗？ (question) Do you like coffee?
- 他 是 老师 吗？ (question) Is he a teacher?
Another important question particle for beginners to understand is 呢("ne"). 呢 ("Ne") is simply added to a topic to turn it into a question. This is useful in conversations to say things like "and you?" or "about what?" The particle is simply tagged onto the subject to form the question.
- 你 说 他们 可以 去。我们 呢 ？You said they can go. What about us?
- 北京 下 雨 了。上海 呢 ？It's raining in Beijing. How about Shanghai?
- 我 吃 饭 了。你 呢 ？I've eaten. What about you?
There are of course other ways to form questions. In English, we use questions words (commonly referred to as the 5 W's and 1 H) 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 (shénme)what
- 哪里 (nǎli) or 哪儿 (nǎr) where
- 谁 (shéi)In spoken Chinese, people normally say "shéi", not "shuí" who
- 什么时候 (shénme shíhou) when
- 为什么 (wèishénme) why
- 怎么 (zěnme) how
Possession
Possession can be show using the particle 的(“de”). This character functions the same way as an apostrophe “s” does in English and is added after the subject of the sentence, between the nouns. In other words, using 的("de") is the equivalent the " 's " when saying "Maureen's bag" or "Terry's keys."
- 小李 的 手机 Xiao Li's cell phone
- 公司 的 老板the company's boss
- 我 家 的 小狗my family's puppy
Possession can also be expressed by talking about things you have. Just like we can say in English "I have the tickets" or "James has the camera" the particle 有("yǒu") can be used to show this type of possession.
- 我 有 钱。I have money.
- 他 有 两 个 女儿 。He has two daughters.
- 你 有 工作 吗？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 "no" in English, but in fact, it is a lot simpler than English.
For example: In English when you add "no" to the sentence "I speak English," "no" becomes "don't" and it would read "I don't speak English." In Chinese when you add 不("bù") to the sentence "I speak English," it just slips in right before the verb. So proper grammar would be "I no speak English." It's that simple!
- 她 不 喝 酒。She doesn't drink beer.
- 我 不 想 工作。I don't want to work.
- 很多 年轻 人 不 运动。Many young people don't exercise.
不("Bù") can be used with both verbs (to express something that isn't done) and adjectives (to express that something does not have a characteristic.)
When talking about things that you do not have, you use the particle 没("méi") instead of 不("bu.") It is placed after the subject but before the verb 有("yǒu") to form the verb 没有("méiyǒu"). This allows you to say sentences like "Bryan doesn't have a car" or "Vikki doesn't have the books."
- 我 没 有 狗 。 I don't have a dog.
- 我们 没 有 房子 。 We don't have a house.
- 我们 公司 没 有 电脑 。 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 tenses to express events that took place in either the past or the future. Instead of tense, the language puts more emphasis on aspect.
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("Xing") - 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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
