Basic sentence order
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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 Nǐmen | 吃。 chī. | You eat. |
| 他 Tā | 笑。 xiào. | He laughs. |
| 我 Wǒ | 读。 dú. | I read. |
| 你 Nǐ | 去。 qù. | You go. |
| 你们 Nǐmen | 看. kàn. | You look. |
| 你 Nǐ | 来。 lái. | You come here! |
| 我 Wǒ | 说。 shuō. | I speak. |
| 孩子 Háizi | 哭。 kū. | Children cry. |
| 谁 Shuí | 要 学？ yào xué? | Who wants to study? |
| 谁 Shuí | 想 玩？ xiǎng wán? | 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 Tāmen | 吃 chī | 肉。 ròu. | They eat meat. |
| 你 Nǐ | 喝 hē | 茶 吗？ chá ma? | Do you drink tea? |
| 我 Wǒ | 去 qù | 学校。 xuéxiào. | I go to school. |
| 他 Tā | 说 shuō | 中文。 Zhōngwén. | He speaks Chinese. |
| 你 Nǐ | 喜欢 xǐhuan | 孩子 吗？ háizi ma? | Do you like kids? |
| 我们 Wǒmen | 要 买 yào mǎi | 电脑。 diànnǎo. | We want to buy a computer. |
| 你们 Nǐmen | 想 吃 xiǎng chī | 中国 菜 吗？ Zhōngguó cài ma? | Do you want to eat Chinese food? |
| 我 Wǒ | 爱 ài | 你 和 爸爸。 nǐ hé bàba. | I love you and dad. |
| 他们 Tāmen | 要 做 yào zuò | 什么？ shénme? | What do they want to do? |
| 你 Nǐ | 想 去 xiǎng qù | 什么 地方？ shénme dìfāng? | What place do you want to go? |
When it all falls apart
Despite the initial word order similarities highlighted above, things start to break down as soon as you start adding in such simple sentence elements as an adverb (such as "also"), a time word, or a location where something happened.
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"
