Reference:Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide

Grammar Points by Chapter

Overview of pronunciation and Pinyin romanization
- 1.1 The Mandarin syllable
- 1.2 Pinyin romanization
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
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
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
Nouns
- 5.1 Common nouns
- 5.2 Pronouns
- 5.3 Proper nouns
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
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
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
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
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
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'
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
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
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
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
Conjunctions
- 16.1 Conjunctions that indicate an 'additive' or 'and' relationship
- 16.2 Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or 'or' relationship
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
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
Introductions
- 19.1 The general format of introductions
- 19.2 Sample introductions
- 19.3 Common occupations and fields of study
Greetings and goodbyes
- 20.1 Greetings in conversations
- 20.2 Saying goodbye in conversations
- 20.3 Greetings and goodbyes in letters
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
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
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
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
Expressing identification, possession, and existence
- 25.1 Expressing identification
- 25.2 Expressing possession
- 25.3 Expressing existence
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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'
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
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'
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
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
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'
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
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
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
Talking about clock time and calendar time
- 45.1 Clock time
- 45.2 Calendar time
Expressing obligations and prohibitions
- 46.1 Expressing obligations
- 46.2 Expressing prohibitions, must not, should not
Expressing commands and permission
- 47.1 Commands
- 47.2 Permission
Expressing ability and possibility
- 48.1 Expressing ability
- 48.2 Expressing possibility
Expressing desires, needs, preferences, and willingness
- 49.1 Expressing desires
- 49.2 Expressing needs
- 49.3 Expressing preferences
- 49.4 Expressing willingness
Expressing knowledge, advice, and opinions
- 50.1 Expressing knowledge
- 50.2 Advice and opinions
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
Expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives
- 52.1 Interjections
- 52.2 Sentence final particles
Topic, focus. and emphasis
- 53.1 Introducing a topic
- 53.2 Focus
- 53.3 Emphasis
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
Giving and responding to compliments
- 55.1 Cultural conventions regarding praise
- 55.2 Expressions used in deflection praise
- 55.3 Compliments and appropriate responses
Expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction
- 56.1 Expressing satisfaction
- 56.2 Expressing dissatisfaction
Expressing gratitude and responding to expressions of gratitude
- 57.1 Expressing gratitude
- 57.2 Replying to expressions of gratitude
Invitations, requests, and refusals
- 58.1 Invitations
- 58.2 Requests
- 58.3 Refusals
- 58.4 Abandoning a request
Expressing apologies, regrets, sympathy, and bad news
- 59.1 Apologies and regrets
- 59.2 Expressing sympathy
- 59.3 Conveying bad news
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.