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 help you start mastering the language!

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 very difficult for second language learners.

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.”

Browser Tools

All beginners should download the Pinyin Browser Extension to be able to read the Chinese characters on the site.

Basic Tools

When initially learning Chinese, there are a number of misconceptions about Chinese grammar. We will start this overview looking at five specific tools in Chinese grammar. They are Word order • Questions • Possessives • Negation • Aspect

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.

For Example: In English, correct grammar is to say "You eat." In Chinese, correct grammar is to say "你 吃" (pinyin "Nǐ chī")

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 questions adding “ma” or "bu" to the end of a sentence. This modifies the sentence the same way “ok” or “right” modifies a sentences in English. "Ma" is the affirmative form of the question, confirming that the statement is true. "Bu" forms a negative form of the question. Here are some examples: An English version of a sentence that uses "ma" might read: "You are okay, right?" An English version of a sentence that uses "bu" might read: "That was fun, no?"

Another particle that can be tagged onto sentences is "ba". This does not turn the sentence into a question so much as a request. An example would be "Let's go now" or "We should eat here." The particle is simply added to the end of the question to make it a suggestion rather than a statement.

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 sentence follow 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.")

Creating yes/no questions is easy too! These allow you to give someone options such as "Do you want to eat here?" or "Should we leave now?"

Possessives

Possession can be show using the particle “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 "de" is the equivalent of saying "Bryan's car" or "Vikki's bike."

When expressing close possession (such as when talking about your family, your friends, or your workplace) "de" is unnecessary, because the possession is implied in the nature of the relationship. This would be the equivalent of saying "my friend" or "her school."

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 "you" can be used to show this type of possession.

Negation

You can use the same basic word order to express things that don’t happen. To express this negative action, the character “bu” is placed before the verb. This functions much like the word "not" in English.

For example: In English you could add "not" to the sentence "I speak English" and it would read "I do not speak English." In Chinese you add "bu" at the same point in the sentence, right after the subject that does not do the action.

"Bu" can be used with both verbs (to express something that isn't done) and adjectives (to express that something does not have a characteristic.)

In order to form negative possession (saying you don't have something) you use the particle "mei" instead of "bu." This allows you to say sentences like "Maureen doesn't have a phone" or "Terry doesn't have the keys." It is placed after the subject but before the verb "you".

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

Nouns are commonly referred to as "person, place, or thing" words. They would be words like "woman" or "apartment" or "flower." Names are also included as nouns. These will make up the subject and the object of a sentence.

Verbs

Verbs are words that describe actions. Examples would include words like "run" or "sit" but they also include words like "is" or "have." In English, we conjugate verbs to express tense and ownership of an action. For example, the verb "swim" becomes "swam" when the action takes place in the past. If you talk about yourself you say "I swim" but when talking about your friend you say "she swims." 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:

• "Zài" - To Be Located
• "Yǒu" - There is/There are
• "Jiào" - To Be Called
• "Qù" - To Go
• "Xing" - To have the surname
• "Yào" - To Be Going To
• "Néng" - To Have The Ability/Possibility
• "Kěyǐ" - To Have Permission
• "Yào" - To Want To Do

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe verbs. These are words like "quickly" "very" and "also." In English, there are very few rules about adverbs. You can say "I really want it" or "I run too" (with "really" and "too" being the adverbs, and "want" and "run" being the verbs.)In Chinese, the adverb always goes before the verb. This is often confusing to understand at first, but it is actually easy. Using the running example, proper grammar in Chinese would be "I too run." It makes sense and you always do it the same way!

Here are some good adverbs for beginners to start learning:

• "Dōu" - Adverb for expressing "all"
• Adverb for expressing "also"

Conjunctions

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, you will learn some of the different ways they can be used in sentences.

Here are some good conjunctions for beginners to start learning:

• "Hé" - Conjunction for "and"
• "Háishì" - Conjunction for "or"

Articles

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 many other languages (like Spanish or French) there area lots of rules about articles including things like gender (in Spanish the masculine article of "el" versus the feminine article of "la") or required usage (in French, you can't just say "amor" when talking about "love"- you have to say "el amor.")

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

Measure words are words that describe numbers. In English, we have numbers, but we don't exactly have measure words. They allow you to say exactly what the value (or measurement of something was.) As you read about how to use measurement words, you'll see that even though it is a little new. It is actually very easy!

Here are some good measure for beginners to start learning.

• Introduction to Measure Words
• Measure Word "Ge"

Numbers

Numbers are the words we use to express certain quanities. In English we use numbers to express value, time, and other important functions in our lives. Numbers can be used for counting, math, dates, times, etc. They can be used for all of these same functions in Chinese.

Here are some good number structures for beginners to start learning.

• Structure of Numbers
• Structure of Days of the Week
• Structure of Times
• Structure of Dates

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 and check out the A1 page for more information.