Difference between revisions of "Basic sentence order"
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|+Very simple SV sentences
 
|+Very simple SV sentences
 
|-
 
|-
−
! Subject !! Verb !! Translation
+
! Subject !! Verb !! Pinyin !! Translation
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 你 || 吃。|| <span class="spaced">You eat.</span>
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| 你 || 吃。|| <span class="spaced">Nǐ chī.</span>|| <span class="spaced">You eat.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 他 || 笑。|| <span class="spaced">He laughs.</span>
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| 他 || 笑。||<span class="spaced">Tā xiào.</span>|| <span class="spaced">He laughs.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 我 || 读。|| <span class="spaced">I read.</span>
+
| 我 || 读。||<span class="spaced">Wǒ dú.</span>|| <span class="spaced">I read.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
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| 我 || 去。|| <span class="spaced">I go.</span>
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| 我 || 去。||<span class="spaced">Wǒ qù.</span>|| <span class="spaced">I go.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 你 || 看。|| <span class="spaced">You look.</span>
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| 你 || 看。||<span class="spaced">Nǐ kàn.</span>|| <span class="spaced">You look.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 你 || 滚 ! || <span class="spaced">You get out of here! </span>
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| 你 || 滚 ! ||<span class="spaced">Nǐ gǔn!</span>|| <span class="spaced">You get out of here! </span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 你 || 说。|| <span class="spaced">You speak. </span>
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| 你 || 说。||<span class="spaced">Nǐ shuō.</span>|| <span class="spaced">You speak. </span>
 
|-
 
|-
−
| 孩子 || 哭。|| <span class="spaced">Children cry.</span>
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| 孩子 || 哭。||<span class="spaced">Háizi kū.</span>|| <span class="spaced">Children cry.</span>
 
|-
 
|-
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| 谁 || 要 学？|| <span class="spaced">Who wants to study?</span>
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| 谁 || 要 学？||<span class="spaced">Shuí yào xué?</span>|| <span class="spaced">Who wants to study?</span>
 
|-
 
|-
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| 谁 || 想 做？|| <span class="spaced">Who wants to do?</span>
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| 谁 || 想 做？||<span class="spaced">Shuí xiǎng zuò?</span>|| <span class="spaced">Who wants to do?</span>
 
|}
 
|}
  

Revision as of 13:37, 12 October 2014

In its most basic form, Chinese word order is very similar to English word order. Don't expect these similarities to hold true too far past the very basic sentence order outlined below, though!

Subject-predicate

The most basic word order in Chinese is:

Structure

Subject + Verb

You can form very simple sentences with just two words.

Examples

Very simple SV sentences
Subject Verb Pinyin Translation
你 吃。 Nǐ chī. You eat.
他 笑。 Tā xiào. He laughs.
我 读。 Wǒ dú. I read.
我 去。 Wǒ qù. I go.
你 看。 Nǐ kàn. You look.
你 滚 ! Nǐ gǔn! You get out of here!
你 说。 Nǐ shuō. You speak.
孩子 哭。 Háizi kū. Children cry.
谁 要 学？ Shuí yào xué? Who wants to study?
谁 想 做？ Shuí xiǎng zuò? Who wants to do?

Subject-verb-object

A basic sentence usually has an object, and is formed with this structure:

Structure

Subject + Verb + Object

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

Simple SVO sentences
Subject Verb Object Translation
我 吃 肉。 I eat meat.
你 喝 汤。 You drink soup.
我 去 学校。 I go to school.
他 说 中文。 He speaks Chinese.
我们 要 买 电脑。 We are going to buy a computer.
我 想 吃 中国 菜。 I want to eat Chinese food.
我 喜欢 那 个 小 孩子。 I like that child.
我 爱 你 和 爸爸。 I love you and dad.
你 要 做 什么？ What do you want to do?
你 想 吃 什么 菜？ What food do you want to eat?

See also

Sources and further reading

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