Basic sentence order

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.

Subject-predicate

The most basic word order in Chinese is:

Structure

Subj. + Verb

You can form very simple sentences with just two words.

Examples

SubjectVerbTranslation
你们Nǐmen吃。chī.You eat.
笑。xiào.He laughs.
读。dú.I read.
去。qù.You go.
你们Nǐmen看。kàn.You look.
来。lái.You come here!
说。shuō.I speak.
孩子Háizi哭。kū.Children cry.
Shéi要 学?yào xué?Who wants to study?
Shéi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

SubjectVerbObjectTranslation
他们
Tāmen
chī肉。
ròu.
They eat meat.

茶 吗?
chá ma?
Do you drink tea?

学校。
xuéxiào.
I go to school.

shuō中文。
Zhōngwén.
He speaks Chinese.

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?

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?

想 去xiǎng qù什么 地方?
shénme dìfang?
What place do you want to go?

When it all falls apart

Despite the convenient word order similarities highlighted above, things start to break down as soon as you start adding in such simple sentence elements as the "also" adverb 也 (yě), a time word, or a location where something happened.

Don't worry; the more complicated Chinese structures aren't hard, they're just different! (If Chinese word order were really the same as English word order, that would be just a little too convenient, wouldn't it?)

See also

Sources and further reading