Chinese grammar

The grammar of Standard Chinese shares many features with other varieties of Chinese. The
language almost entirely lacksinflection, so that words typically have only one grammatical form.
Categories such as number (singular or plural) and verb tense are frequently not expressed by any
grammatical means, although there are several particles that serve to express verbal aspect, and to
some extent mood.

The basic word order issubject–verb–object (SVO), as in English. Otherwise, Chinese is chiefly a
head-last language, meaning that modifiers precede the words they modify – in a noun phrase, for
example, the head noun comes last, and all modifiers, including relative clauses, come in front of
it. This phenomenon is more typically found inSOV languages like Turkish and Japanese.

Chinese frequently uses serial verb constructions, which involve two or more verbs or verb
phrases in sequence. Chinese prepositions behave similarly to serialized verbs in some respects
(several of the common prepositions can also be used as full verbs), and they are often referred to
as coverbs. There are also location markers, placed after a noun, and hence often called
postpositions; these are often used in combination with a coverb. Predicate adjectives are
zhōngwén yǔfǎ
normally used without acopular verb ("to be"), and can thus be regarded as a type of verb. 中 文 语法
[中文語法],
As in many east Asian languages, classifiers or measure words are required when using numerals
meaning "Chinese
—and sometimes other words such as demonstratives—with nouns. There are many different grammar", written
classifiers in the language, and each countable noun generally has a particular classifier associated vertically in simplified
with it. Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general classifier ge (simplified (left) and traditional
Chinese: 个; traditional Chinese: 個) in place of other specific classifiers. (right) Chinese
characters

Contents
Word formation
Reduplication
Prefixes
Suffixes
Sentence structure
Objects
Plurals
Noun phrases
Relative clauses
Classifiers
Numerals
Pronouns
Adjectives
Adverbs and adverbials
Locative phrases
Comparatives and superlatives
Copula
Aspects
 Passive
Negation
Questions
Imperatives
Serial verb constructions
Auxiliaries
Verbal complements
Complement of result
Complement of direction
Coverbs
Other cases
Particles
Cleft sentences
Conjunctions
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Word formation
In Chinese, the concept of words and the boundaries between them is not always transparent,[a] and the Chinese script does not use
spaces between words. Grammatically, some strings of characters behave as single words in some contexts, but are separable in
others. Many English intransitive verbs are translated by verb+noun compounds, such as tiàowǔ (跳舞 literally "to jump a dance",
meaning "to dance",); such items may be regarded as single lexical words, although the two parts can become separated by (for
example) aspect markers, and in fact they generally behave grammatically as a verb plus an object. Sometimes the behavior of such
compounds is anomalous, however; for instanceguānxīn (关心; 關心, "to be concerned about") behaves as an inseparable word when
the perfective particle le is attached, although it is separable in the phrase guān shénme xīn (关什么心; 關什麼心, literally "concern
[1]
what about", meaning "to be concerned about what").

Chinese morphemes, or minimum units of meaning, are mostly monosyllabic. Syllables, and thus in most cases morphemes, are
represented as a rule by single characters. Some words consist of single syllables, but many words are formed by compounding two
or more monosyllabic morphemes. These may be either free or bound – that is, they may or may not also be able to stand
independently. Most two-syllable compound nouns have the head on the right, while in compound verbs the head is usually on the
left.[2] Loanwords from other languages may be polysyllabic; they are usually written using selected pre-existing characters that have
the right phonetic values, for example,shāfā (沙发; 沙發, "sofa") is written with the charactersshā (沙, originally "sand") and fā (发;
發, originally "to become/to issue"). Native disyllabic morphemes such aszhīzhū (蜘蛛, "spider") have consonantalliteration.

Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the same meaning, such as dàsuàn (大蒜, literally "big
garlic") for suàn (蒜, "garlic"). Many disyllabic nouns are produced by adding the suffix zi ( 子, originally meaning "child") to a
monosyllabic word or morpheme. There is a strong tendency for monosyllables to be avoided in certain positions; for example, a
disyllabic verb will not normally be followed by a monosyllabic object. This may be connected with the preferred metrical structure
of the language.

Reduplication
A common feature in Chinese is reduplication, where a syllable or word is repeated to produce a modified meaning. This can happen
with:

classifiers, to produce a phrase meaning "all"; for example,zuòzuò shān (座座山, "all the mountains"), where
ordinarily zuò is the classifier used in a phrase denoting a specific number of mountains
māma (妈妈; 媽媽, "mother"), dìdi (弟弟,
syllables in some informal words denoting family relations, for example
"younger brother")
some adjectives, to add emphasis:hónghóng (红红; 紅紅 "so red"), from hóng (红; 紅, "red"). This is most common
with monosyllabic adjectives, but can also occur with some disyllabic ones, in some cases on the pattern
shūshūfūfū
(舒舒服服), from shūfu (舒服, "comfortable"); and in others on the patternbīngliángbīngliáng (冰凉冰凉; 冰涼冰涼),
from bīngliáng (冰凉, "ice-cool") [b]
many verbs, to mark thedelimitative aspect ("to do something for a little bit") or for general emphasis – seeAspects
section
certain other single-syllable words and morphemes, as inxīngxīng (星星, "[distant] star, speck"), from xīng (星,
"star"); chángcháng (常常, "often").

Prefixes
kě
可 — "-able"
kě kào
可 靠 — "reliable"
kě zūnjìng
可 尊敬 — "respectable"
fǎn
反 — "anti-"
fǎn kǒng
反 恐 [反恐] — "anti-terror"
fǎn duòtāi
反 堕胎 [反墮胎] — "anti-abortion"

Suffixes
huà
化 — "change"
guójì huà
国際 化 [國際化] — "internationalise"
è huà
恶 化 [惡化] — "worsen"
xìng
性 — "ability"
ānquán xìng
安全 性 — "safety"
cuì xìng
脆 性 — "brittleness"

Sentence structure
Chinese, like English, is classified as anSVO (subject–verb–object) language. Transitive verbs precede their objects in typical simple
clauses, while the subject precedes the verb. For example:[3]

tā hē jiǔ
他 喝 酒。
 Literal: He drink alcohol.
Translated: He drinks alcohol.

Chinese can also be considered a topic-prominent language:[4] there is a strong preference for sentences that begin with the theme,
usually "given" or "old" information; and end with the rheme, or "new" information. Certain modifications of the basic subject–verb–
object order are permissible and may serve to achieve topic-prominence. In particular, a direct or indirect object may be moved to the
start of the clause to create topicalization. It is also possible for an object to be moved to a position in front of the verb for
emphasis.[5]

Another type of sentence is what has been called an ergative structure,[6] where the apparent subject of the verb can move to object
position; the empty subject position is then often occupied by an expression of location. Compare locative inversion in English. This
structure is typical of the verb yǒu (有, "there is/are"; in other contexts the same verb means "have"), but it can also be used with
many other verbs, generally denoting position, appearance or disappearance. An example:

yuànzi lǐ tíngzhe chē

院子 里 停着 车。 [院子裏停著車。]
Literal: Courtyard-in park vehicle.
Translation: In the courtyard is parked a vehicle.

Chinese is also to some degree a pro-drop or null-subject language, meaning that the subject can be omitted from a clause if it can be
inferred from the context.[7] In the following example, the subject of the verbs for "hike" and "camp" is left to be inferred—it may be
"we", "I", "you", "she", etc.

jīntiān pá shān míngtiān lù yíng

今天 爬 山 ， 明天 露 营。 [今天爬山，明天露營。]
Literal: Today climb mountain, tomorrow outdoors camp.
Translated: Today hike up mountains, tomorrow camp outdoors.

In the next example the subject is omitted and the object is topicalized by being moved into subject position, to form a passive-type
sentence. For passive sentences with a marker such as被 bèi, see the passive section.

fàn zuò hǎo le

饭 做 好 了。[飯做好了。]
Literal: Food make complete [perfective-aspect].
Translation: The food has been madeor the food is ready.

Adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify the verb typically come after the subject but before the verb, although other positions are
sometimes possible; see Adverbs and adverbials. For constructions that involve more than one verb or verb phrase in sequence, see
Serial verb constructions. For sentences consisting of more than oneclause, see Conjunctions.

Objects
Some verbs can take both anindirect object and a direct object. Indirect normally precedes direct, as in English:

wǒ gěi le tā liù běn shū

我 给 了 她 六 本 书。[我給了她六本書。]
Literal: I give [perfective-aspect] her six [book-classifier] books
Translation: I gave her six books.

With many verbs, however, the indirect object may alternatively be preceded by prepositional gěi (给; 給); in that case it may either
precede or follow the direct object. (Compare the similar use ofto or for in English.)

In certain situations a direct object may be preceded by the accusative marker bǎ (把).[8] This generally denotes an action that results
in a change of state in the object. For further details of this, see the bǎ construction section. Such a bǎ phrase no longer occupies the
normal direct object position, but moves in front of the verb. Compare:
 wǒ dǎ huài le pánzi
我 打 坏 了 盘子。 [我打壞了盤子。]
Literal: I [verb-form]-break [perfective] plate
Translation: I broke a plate.
wǒ bǎ pánzi dǎ huài le
我 把 盘子 打 坏 了。[我把盤子打壞了。]
Literal: I BA plate [verb-form] break [perfective]
Translation: I BA plate broke.

The meanings of the above two sentences are similar, but the one with bǎ may be considered to place more emphasis on what
happened to the object. It may also indicate definiteness—"the plate" rather than "a plate". Certain other markers can be used in a
similar way to bǎ, such as the formal jiāng (将; 將) and colloquial ná (拿).

Some verbs can apparently take two direct objects, which may be called an "inner" and an "outer" object.[9] These cannot both follow
the verb – typically the outer object will be placed at the start of the sentence (topicalized) or introduced via the bǎ construction. For
example:

wǒ bǎ júzi bō le pí
我 把 橘子 剥 了 皮。 [我把橘子剝了皮。]
Literal: I BA tangerine peeled skin.
Translation: I peeled the tangerine.[c]

Here pí (皮, "skin") is the inner object, andjúzi (橘子, "tangerine") is introduced via thebǎ construction as the outer object.[10]

Plurals
Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked for number, meaning that plural forms are mostly the same as the
singular. However, there is a plural markermen (们; 們), which has limited usage. It is used with personal pronouns, as in wǒmen (我
们; 我們, "we" or "us"), derived from wǒ (我, "I, me"). It can be used with nouns representing humans, most commonly those with
two syllables, like in péngyoumén (朋友们; 朋友們, "friends"), from péngyou (朋友, "friend"). Its use in such cases is optional.[11] It
[12]
is never used when the noun has indefinite reference, or when it is qualified by a numeral.

The demonstrative pronounszhè (这; 這, "this"), and nà (那, "that") may be optionally pluralized by the addition of xiē (些), making
zhèxiē (这些; 這些, "these") and nàxiē (那些, "those").

Noun phrases
The head noun of a noun phrase comes at the end of the phrase; this means that everything that modifies the noun comes before it.
This includes attributiveadjectives, determiners, quantifiers, possessives, and relative clauses.

Chinese does not have articles as such; a noun may stand alone to represent what in English would be expressed as "the ..." or "a[n]
...". However the word yī (一, "one"), followed by the appropriate classifier, may be used in some cases where English would have
"a" or "an". It is also possible, with many classifiers, to omit theyī and leave the classifier on its own at the start of the noun phrase.

The demonstratives are zhè (这; 這, "this"), and nà (那, "that"). When used before a noun, these are often followed by an appropriate
classifier (for discussion of classifiers, see Classifiers below and the article Chinese classifiers). However this use of classifiers is
optional.[13] When a noun is preceded by a numeral (or a demonstrative followed by a numeral), the use of a classifier or measure
word is in most cases considered mandatory. (This does not apply to nouns that function as measure words themselves; this includes
many units of measurement and currency.)

The plural marker xiē (些, "some, several"; also used to pluralize demonstratives) is used without a classifier. However jǐ (几; 幾,
.[14]
"some, several, how many") takes a classifier
For adjectives in noun phrases, see the Adjectives section. For noun phrases with pronouns rather than nouns as the head, see the
Pronouns section.

Possessives are formed by adding de (的)—the same particle that is used after relative clauses and sometimes after adjectives—after
the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that denotes the possessor
.

Relative clauses
Chinese relative clauses, like other noun modifiers, precede the noun they modify. Like possessives and some adjectives, they are
marked with the final particle de (的 ). A free relative clause is produced if the modified noun following the de is omitted. A relative
clause usually comes after any determiner phrase, such as a numeral and classifier. For emphasis, it may come before the determiner
phrase.[15]

There is usually no relative pronoun in the relative clause. Instead, a gap is left in subject or object position as appropriate. If there
are two gaps—the additional gap being created by pro-dropping—ambiguity may arise. For example, chī de ( 吃 的 ) may mean "
[those] who eat" or "[that] which is eaten". When used alone, it usually means "things to eat".

If the relative item is governed by a preposition in the relative clause, then it is denoted by a pronoun, e.g. tì tā (替他, "for him"), to
explain "for whom". Otherwise the whole prepositional phrase is omitted, the preposition then being implicitly understood.

For example sentences, seeRelative clause → Mandarin.

Classifiers
Chinese nouns require classifiers called liàngcí (量词; 量詞; "measure words") in order to be counted. That is, when specifying the
amount of a countable noun,[d] a classifier must be inserted which agrees with the noun. Hence one must say liǎng tóu niú (两头牛;
兩頭牛, "two head of cattle") for "two cows", with tóu being the measure word or classifier. This phenomenon is common in East
Asian languages. In English, some words, as in the cited example of "cattle", are often paired with a noun used much like the Chinese
measure word. Bottle in "two bottles of wine" or piece in "three pieces of paper" are further examples. However, certain nouns
representing units of measurement, time, or currency are themselves classifiers. These can therefore be counted directly
.

Classifiers are generally associated with certain groups of nouns related by meaning, such as tiáo (条; 條) for long, thin objects or
animals, like ropes, snakes or fish; bǎ (把) for objects with handles, like knives or umbrellas; or zhāng (张; 張) for flat, sheet-like
objects like photographs, or fur. While there are dozens of classifiers, which must be memorized individually for each noun, a
majority of words use the general classifier gè (个; 個). Many nouns that are associated with other classifiers can also use gè if the
speaker chooses. The classifiers for many nouns appear arbitrary. The word zhuōzi (桌子, "table") is a zhāng noun, probably because
a table-top is sheet-like; while yĭzi (椅子, "chair") is a bǎ noun, likely because a chair is moved by lifting something like a handle.
Dèngzi (凳子), another word for chair or stool, is agè noun.

Classifiers are also used optionally after demonstratives, and in certain other situations. See the Noun phrases section, and the article
Chinese classifier.

Numerals

Pronouns
The Chinese personal pronouns are wǒ (我, "I, me"), nǐ (你; 你/妳 [e], "you"), and tā (他/她/它, "he; him/she; her/it"). Plurals are
formed by adding men (们; 們): wǒmen (我们; 我們, "we, us"), nǐmen (你们; 你們, "you"), tāmen (他们/她们/它们; 他們/她們/它
們, "they/them"). There is also nín (您), a formal, polite word for singular "you". The alternative "inclusive" word for "we/us"—zán
(咱) or zá[n]men (咱们; 咱們), referring specifically to the two people "you and I"—is not widely used. The third-person pronouns
are not often used for inanimates, withdemonstratives used instead.
Possessives are formed with de (的), such as wǒde (我的, "my, mine"), wǒmende (我们的; 我們的, "our[s]"), etc. The de may be
omitted in phrases denotinginalienable possession, such as wǒ māma (我妈妈; 我媽媽, "my mom").

The demonstrative pronouns are zhè (这; 這, "this", colloquially pronounced zhèi) and nà (那, "that", colloquially pronunced nèi).
They are optionally pluralized by the addition of xiē (些). There is a reflexive pronoun zìjǐ (自己) meaning "oneself, myself, etc.",
which can stand alone as an object or a possessive, or may follow a personal pronoun for emphasis. The reciprocal pronoun "each
other" can be translated frombǐcǐ (彼此), usually in adverb position. An alternative ishùxiāng (互相, "mutually").

Adjectives
Adjectives can be used attributively, before a noun. The relative marker de (的)[f] may be added after the adjective, but this is not
always required; "black horse" may be either hēi mǎ (黑马; 黑馬) or hēi de mǎ (黑的马; 黑的馬). When multiple adjectives are
used, the order "quality/size – shape – color" is followed, although this is not necessary when each adjective is made into a separate
phrase with the addition ofde.[16]

Gradable adjectives can be modified by words meaning "very", etc.; such modifying adverbs normally precede the adjective,
although some, such asjíle (极了; 極了, "extremely"), come after it.

When adjectives co-occur with classifiers, they normally follow the classifier. However, with most common classifiers, when the
number is "one", it is also possible to place adjectives like "big" and "small" before the classifier for emphasis. For example yí dà ge
xīguā (一大个西瓜; 一大個西瓜, "one big [classifier] watermelon").[14]

Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they behave more like verbs; there is no need for a copular verb in sentences
like "he is happy" in Chinese; one may say simply tā gāoxìng (他高兴; 他高興, "he happy"), where the adjective may be interpreted
as a verb meaning "is happy". In such sentences it is common for the adjective to be modified by a word meaning "very" or the like;
in fact the word hěn (很 , "very") is often used in such cases with gradable adjectives, even without carrying the meaning of "very".

It is nonetheless possible for a copula to be used in such sentences, to emphasize the adjective. In the phrase tā shì gāoxìng le, (他是
高兴了; 他是高興了, "he is now truly happy"), shì is the copula meaning "is", and le is the inceptive marker discussed later.[17] This
is similar to the cleft sentence construction. Sentences can also be formed in which an adjective followed by de (的) stands as the
complement of the copula.

Adverbs and adverbials

Adverbs and adverbial phrases normally come in a position before the verb, but after the subject of the verb. In sentences with
auxiliary verbs, the adverb usually precedes the auxiliary verb as well as the main verb. Some adverbs of time and attitude ("every
day", "perhaps", etc.) may be moved to the start of the clause, to modify the clause as a whole. However, some adverbs cannot be
moved in this way. These include three words for "often", cháng (常), chángcháng (常常) and jīngcháng (经常; 經常); dōu (都,
"all"); jiù (就, "then"); and yòu (又, "again").[18]

Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives using the cliticde (地).[g] It is generally possible to move these adverbs to the start
of the clause, although in some cases this may sound awkward, unless there is a qualifier such as hěn (很, "very") and a pause after
the adverb.

Some verbs take a prepositional phrase following the verb and its direct object. These are generally obligatory constituents, such that
the sentence would not make sense if they were omitted. For example:

fàng běn shū zài zhuōzi shàng

放 本 书 在 桌子 上 [放本書在桌子上]
Put the book on the table[19]
There are also certain adverbial "stative complements" which follow the verb. The character dé ( 得)[h] followed by an adjective
functions the same as the phrase "-ly" in English, turning the adjective into an adverb. The second is hǎo le (好了, "complete"). It is
not generally possible for a single verb to be followed by both an object and an adverbial complement of this type, although there are
exceptions in cases where the complement expresses duration, frequency or goal.[20] To express both, the verb may be repeated in a
special kind of serial verb construction; the first instance taking an object, the second taking the complement. Aspect markers can
then appear only on the second instance of the verb.

The typical Chinese word order "XVO", where an oblique complement such as a locative prepositional phrase precedes the verb,
while a direct object comes after the verb, is very rare cross-linguistically; in fact, it is only in varieties of Chinese that this is attested
as the typical ordering.[21]

Locative phrases
Expressions of location in Chinese may include a preposition, placed before the noun; a postposition, placed after the noun; both
preposition and postposition; or neither. Chinese prepositions are commonly known as coverbs – see the Coverbs section. The
postpositions—which includeshàng (上, "up, on"), xià (下, "down, under"), lǐ (里; 裡, "in, within"), nèi (内, "inside") and wài (外,
"outside")—may also be calledlocative particles.[22]

In the following examples locative phrases are formed from a noun plus a locative particle:

zhuōzi shàng
桌子 上
Literal: table-on
Translation: on the table
fángzi lǐ
房子 里 [房子裡]
Literal: house-in
Translation: in the house

The most common preposition of location is zài ( 在, "at, on, in"). With certain nouns that inherently denote a specific location,
including nearly all place names, a locative phrase can be formed withzài together with the noun:

zài měiguó
在 美国 [在美國]
Literal & translation: in America

However other types of noun still require a locative particle as a postposition in addition to
zài:

zài bàozhǐ shàng

在 报纸 上 [在報紙上]
Literal: in newspaper-on
Translation: in the newspaper

If a noun is modified so as to denote a specific location, as in "this [object]...", then it may form locative phrases without any locative
particle. Some nouns which can be understood to refer to a specific place, like jiā (家, home) and xuéxiào (学校; 學校, "school"),
may optionally omit the locative particle. Words like shàngmiàn (上面, "top") can function as specific-location nouns, like in zài
shàngmiàn (在上面, "on top"), but can also take the role of locative particle, not necessarily with analogous meaning. The phrase zài
bàozhǐ shàngmiàn (在报纸上面; 在報紙上面; "in newspaper-top"), can mean either "in the newspaper" or "on the newspaper".[23]

In certain circumstances zài can be omitted from the locative expression. Grammatically, a noun or noun phrase followed by a
locative particle is still a noun phrase. For instance, zhuōzi shàng can be regarded as short for zhuōzi shàngmiàn, meaning something
like "the table's top". Consequently, the locative expression without zài can be used in places where a noun phrase would be expected
– for instance, as a modifier of another noun using de (的), or as the object of a different preposition, such as cóng (从, "from"). The
version with zài, on the other hand, plays an adverbial role. However, zài is usually omitted when the locative expression begins a
sentence with the ergative structure, where the expression, though having an adverbial function, can be seen as filling the subject or
noun role in the sentence. For examples, seesentence structure section.

The word zài (在), like certain other prepositions or coverbs, can also be used as a verb. A locative expression can therefore appear as
a predicate without the need for any additional copula. For example, "he is at school" (他在学校; 他在學校; tā zài xuéxiào, literally
"he at school").

Comparatives and superlatives

Comparative sentences are commonly expressed simply by inserting the standard of comparison, preceded by bǐ (比, "than"). The
adjective itself is not modified. The bǐ phrase is an adverbial, and has a fixed position before the verb. See also the section on
negation.

If there is no standard of comparison—i.e., a than phrase—then the adjective can be marked as comparative by a preceding adverb
bǐjiào (比较; 比較) or jiào (较; 較), both meaning "more". Similarly, superlatives can be expressed using the adverb zuì (最, "most"),
which precedes a predicate verb or adjective.

Adverbial phrases meaning "like [someone/something]" or "as [someone/something]" can be formed using gēn (跟), tóng ( 同 ) or
xiàng (像) before the noun phrase, andyīyàng (一样; 一樣) or nàyàng (那样; 那樣) after it.[24]

The construction yuè ... yuè ... 越...越... can be translated into statements of the type "the more ..., the more ...".

Copula
The Chinese copular verb is shì (是). This is the equivalent of English "to be" and all its forms—"am", "is", "are", "was", "were", etc.
However, shì is normally only used when its complement is a noun or noun phrase. As noted above, predicate adjectives function as
verbs themselves, as does the locative preposition zài (在), so in sentences where the predicate is an adjectival or locative phrase, shì
is not required.

For another use of shì, see shì ... [de] construction in the section on cleft sentences. The English existential phrase "there is" ["there
are", etc.] is translated using the verbyǒu (有), which is otherwise used to denotepossession.

Aspects
Chinese does not have grammatical markers of tense. The time at which action is conceived as taking place—past, present, future—
can be indicated by expressions of time—"yesterday", "now", etc.—or may simply be inferred from the context. However, Chinese
does have markers of aspect, which is a feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of events. There are two
aspect markers that are especially commonly used with past events: the perfective-aspect le (了) and the experiential guò (过; 過).
Some authors, however, do not regard guo zhe as markers of aspect.[25] Both le and guò immediately follow the verb. There is also a
sentence-final particlele, which serves a somewhat different purpose.

The perfective le presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety".[26] It is sometimes considered to be a past tense marker,
although it can also be used with future events, given appropriate context. Some examples of its use:

wǒ dāng le bīng
我 当 了 兵 。 [我當了兵。]
Literal: I work LE soldier.
Translation: I became a soldier.

Using le (了) shows this event that has taken place or took place at a particular time.
tā kàn le sān chǎng qiúsài
他 看 了 三 场 球赛。 [他看了三場球賽。]
 Literal: He watch LE three [sports-classifier] ballgames.
Translation: He watched three ballgames.

This format of le (了) is usually used in a time-delimited context such as "today" or "last week".

The above may be compared with the following examples with guò, and with the examples with sentence-final le given under
Particles.

[27]
The experiential guò "ascribes to a subject the property of having experienced the event".

wǒ dāng guo bīng

我 当 过 兵 。 [我當過兵。]
Literal: I work GUÒ soldier.
Translation: I once became a soldier

This also implies that the speaker no longer is a soldier

.
tā kàn guo sān chǎng qiúsài
他 看 过 三 场 球赛。 [他看過三場球賽。]
Literal: He watch GUÒ three [sports-classifier] ballgames.
Translation: He has watched three ballgames up to now .

There are also two imperfective aspect markers: zhèngzài (正在) or zài (在), and zhe (着; 著), which denote ongoing actions or states.
Zhèngzài and zài precede the verb, and are usually used for ongoing actions or dynamic events – they may be translated as "[be] in
the process of [-ing]" or "[be] in the middle of [-ing]".Zhe follows the verb, and is used mostly for static situations.

wǒ zhèng zài guà huà

我 [ 正 ] 在 挂 画。 [我[正]在掛畫。]
Literal: I [in-middle-of] hang pictures
Translation: I'm hanging pictures up.
qiáng shàng guà zhe yì fú huà
墙 上 挂 着 一 幅 画。 [牆上掛著一幅畫。]
Literal: Wall on hang [ongoing] one [picture-classifier] picture
Translation: A picture is hanging on the wall.

Both markers may occur in the same clause, however. For example, tā zhèngzai dǎ [zhe] diànhuà, "he is in the middle of telephoning
[28]
someone" (他正在打[着]电话; 他正在打[著]電話; "he [in-middle-of] [verb form] [ongoing] telephone").

The delimitative aspect denotes an action that goes on only for some time, "doing something 'a little bit'".[29] This can be expressed
by reduplication of a monosyllabic verb, like the verbzǒu (走 "walk") in the following sentence:

wǒ dào gōngyuán zǒu zǒu

我 到 公 园 走 走。 [我到公園走走。]
Literal: I to park walk-walk
Translation: I'm going for a walk in the park.

An alternative construction is reduplication with insertion of "one" ( 一 yī). For example, zǒu yi zǒu ( 走 一 走 ), which might be
translated as "walk a little walk". A further possibility is reduplication followed by kàn (看 "to see"); this emphasizes the "testing"
nature of the action. If the verb has an object,kàn follows the object.

Some compound verbs, such as restrictive-resultative and coordinate compounds, can also be reduplicated on the pattern tǎolùn-
tǎolùn (讨论讨论; 討論討論), from the verb tǎolùn (讨论; 討論), meaning "discuss". Other compounds may be reduplicated, but for
general emphasis rather than delimitative aspect. In compounds that are verb–object combinations, like tiào wǔ (跳舞; "to jump a
dance", "dance"), a delimitative aspect can be marked by reduplicating the first syllable, creating tiào-tiào wǔ (跳跳舞), which may
be followed with kàn (看).
Passive
As mentioned above, the fact that a verb is intended to be understood in the passive voice is not always marked in Chinese. However,
it may be marked using the passive marker 被 bèi, followed by the agent, though bèi may appear alone, if the agent is not to be
specified.[i] Certain causative markers can replacebèi, such as those mentioned in theOther cases section, gěi, jiào and ràng. Of these
causative markers, onlygěi can appear alone without a specified agent. The construction with a passive marker is normally used only
when there is a sense of misfortune or adversity.[30] The passive marker and agent occupy the typical adverbial position before the
verb. See the Negation section for more. Some examples:

wǒmen bèi tā mà le
我们 被 他 骂 了。 [我們被他罵了。]
Literal: We by him scolded [perfective-aspect]
Translation: We were scolded by him.
tā bèi wǒ dǎ le yí dùn
他 被 我 打 了 一 顿。 [他被我打了一頓。]
Literal: He by me beaten [perfective-aspect] one [event-
classifier]
Translation: He was beaten up by me once.

Negation
The most commonly used negating element is bù (不), pronounced with second tone when followed by a fourth tone. This can be
placed before a verb, preposition or adverb to negate it. For example: "I don't eat chicken" (我不吃鸡; 我不吃雞; wǒ bù chī jī; "I not
eat chicken"). For the double-verb negative construction with bù, see Complement of result, below. However, the verb yǒu (有)—
which can mean eitherpossession, or "there is/are" in existential clauses—is negated using méi (没; 沒) to produce méiyǒu (没有; 沒
有; "not have").

For negation of a verb intended to denote a completed event, méi or méiyǒu is used instead of bù (不), and the aspect marker le (了)
is then omitted. Also, méi[yǒu] is used to negate verbs that take the aspect marker guo (过; 過); in this case the aspect marker is not
omitted.[31]

In coverb constructions, the negator may come before the coverb (preposition) or before the full verb, the latter being more emphatic.
In constructions with a passive marker, the negator precedes that marker; similarly, in comparative constructions, the negator
precedes the bǐ phrase (unless the verb is further qualified by gèng (更, "even more"), in which case the negator may follow the gèng
to produce the meaning "even less").[32]

The negator bié (别) precedes the verb in negative commands and negative requests, such as in phrases meaning "don't ...", "please
don't ...".

The negator wèi (未) means "not yet". Other items used as negating elements in certain compound words include wú (无; 無) and fēi
(非).

A double negative makes a positive, as in sentences like wǒ bù shì bù xǐhuān tā (我不是不喜欢她; 我不是不喜歡她, "It's not that I
don't like her" ). For this use ofshì (是), see the Cleft sentences section.

Questions
In wh-questions in Chinese, the question word is not fronted. Instead, it stays in the position in the sentence that would be occupied
by the item being asked about. For example, "What did you say?" is phrased as nǐ shuō shé[n]me (你说什么?; 你說什麼？, literally
"you say what"). The wordshénme (什么; 什麼, "what" or "which"), remains in theobject position after the verb.

Other interrogative words include:

"Who": shuí/shéi (谁; 誰)

 "What": shénme (什么; 什麼); shá (啥, used informally)
"Where": nǎr (哪儿; 哪兒); nǎlǐ (哪里; 哪裡)
"When": shénme shíhòu (什么时候; 什麼時候); héshí (何时; 何時)
"Which": nǎ (哪)

When used to mean "which ones",nǎ is used with a classifier and noun, or withxiē (些) and noun. The noun
may be omitted if understood through context.
"Why": wèishé[n]me (为什么; 為什麼); gànmá (干吗; 幹嘛)
"How many": duōshǎo (多少)

When the number is quite small,jǐ (几; 幾) is used, followed by a classifier.

"How": zěnme[yang] (怎么[样]; 怎麼[樣]); rúhé (如何).

Disjunctive questions can be made using the word háishì (还是; 還是) between the options, like English "or". This differs from the
word for "or" in statements, which ishuòzhě (或者).

Yes-no questions can be formed using the sentence-final particle ma (吗; 嗎), with word order otherwise the same as in a statement.
For example, nǐ chī jī ma? (你吃鸡吗?; 你吃雞嗎？; "you eat chicken MA", "Do you eat chicken?").

An alternative is the A-not-A construction, using phrases like chī bu chī ( 吃 不 吃 , "eat or not eat").[j] With two-syllable verbs,
sometimes only the first syllable is repeated: xǐ-bu-xǐhuān ( 喜不喜欢; 喜不喜歡, "like or not like"), from xǐhuān (喜欢; 喜歡,
"like"). It is also possible to use the A-not-A construction with prepositionscoverbs)
( and phrases headed by them, as with full verbs.

The negator méi (没; 沒) can be used rather than bù in the A-not-A construction when referring to a completed event, but if it occurs
at the end of the sentence—i.e. the repetition is omitted—the full formméiyǒu (没有; 沒有) must appear.[33]

For answering yes-no questions, Chinese has words that may be used like the English "yes" and "no" – duì (对; 對) or shì de (是的)
for "yes"; bù (不) for "no" – but these are not often used for this purpose; it is more common to repeat the verb or verb phrase (or
entire sentence), negating it if applicable.

Imperatives
Second-person imperative sentences are formed in the same way as statements, but like in English, the subject "you" is often omitted.

Orders may be softened by preceding them with an element such asqǐng (请, "to ask"), in this use equivalent to English "please". See
Particles for more. The sentence-final particleba (吧) can be used to form first-person imperatives, equivalent to "let's...".

Serial verb constructions

Chinese makes frequent use of serial verb constructions, or verb stacking, where two or more verbs or verb phrases are concatenated
together. This frequently involves either verbal complements appearing after the main verb, or coverb phrases appearing before the
main verb, but other variations of the construction occur as well.

Auxiliaries
A main verb may be preceded by an auxiliary verb, as in English. Chinese auxiliaries include néng and nénggòu (能 and 能够; 能夠,
"can"); huì (会; 會, "know how to"); kéyǐ (可以, "may"); gǎn (敢, "dare"); kěn (肯, "be willing to"); yīnggāi (应该; 應該, "should");
bìxū (必须; 必須, "must"); etc. The auxiliary normally follows an adverb, if present. In shortened sentences an auxiliary may be used
without a main verb, analogously to English sentences such as "I can."

Verbal complements
The active verb of a sentence may be suffixed with a second verb, which usually indicates either the result of the first action, or the
direction in which it took the subject. When such information is applicable, it is generally considered mandatory. The phenomenon is
sometimes called double verbs.

Complement of result
A complement of result, or resultative complement ( 结果补语; 結果補語; jiéguǒ bǔyǔ) is a verbal suffix which indicates the
outcome, or possible outcome, of the action indicated by the main verb. In the following examples, the main verb is tīng (听; 聽 "to
listen"), and the complement of result isdǒng (懂, "to understand/to know").

tīng dǒng
听 懂 [聽懂]
Literal: Hear understand
Translation: To understand something you hear

Since they indicate an absolute result, such double verbs necessarily represent a completed action, and are thus negated using méi
(没; 沒):

méi tīng dǒng

没 听 懂 [沒聽懂]
Literal: Not hear understand
Translation: To have not understood something you hear

The infix de (得) is placed between the double verbs to indicate possibility or ability. This is not possible with "restrictive" resultative
[34]
compounds such as jiéshěng (节省, literally "reduce-save", meaning "to save, economize").

tīng de dǒng
听 得 懂 [聽得懂]
Literal: Hear [possible/able] understand
Translation: To be able to understand something you hear

This is equivalent in meaning tonéng tīng dǒng (能听懂; 能聽懂), using the auxiliary néng (能), equivalent to
"may" or "can".[k]

To negate the above construction,de (得) is replaced by bù (不):

tīng bù dǒng
听 不 懂 [聽不懂]
Literal: Hear [impossible/unable] understand
Translation: To be unable to understand something you hear

With some verbs, the addition of bù and a particular complement of result is the standard method of negation. In many cases the
complement is liǎo, represented by the same character as the perfective or modal particle le (了). This verb means "to finish", but
when used as a complement for negation purposes it may merely indicate inability. For example: shòu bù liǎo (受不了, "to be unable
to tolerate").

The complement of result is a highly productive and frequently used construction. Sometimes it develops into idiomatic phrases, as in
è sǐ le (饿死了; 餓死了, literally "hungry-until-die already", meaning "to be starving") and qì sǐ le (气死了; 氣死了, literally "mad-
until-die already", meaning "to be extremely angry"). The phrases for "hatred" (看不起; kànbùqǐ), "excuse me" (对不起; 對不起;
duìbùqǐ), and "too expensive to buy" (买不起; 買不起; mǎi bùqǐ) all use the character qǐ (起, "to rise up") as a complement of result,
but their meanings are not obviously related to that meaning. This is partially the result of metaphorical construction, where kànbùqǐ
(看不起) literally means "to be unable to look up to"; andduìbùqǐ (对不起; 對不起) means "to be unable to face someone".

Some more examples of resultative complements, used in complete sentences:

tā bǎ pánzi dǎ pò le
 tā bǎ pánzi dǎ pò le
他 把 盘子 打 破 了。 [他把盤子打破了。]
Literal: he [object-classifier] plate hit break [perfect-aspect].
Translation: He hit/dropped the plate, and it broke.

Double-verb construction where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first, and indicates what happens to the object as a result
of the action.

zhè(i) bù diànyǐng wǒ kàn bù dǒng

这 部 电影 我 看 不 懂 。 [這部電影我看不懂。]
Literal: This movie I look [impossible/unable] understand.
Translation: I can't understand this movie even though I watched it.

Another double-verb where the second verb, "understand", suffixes the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant
action.

Complement of direction
A complement of direction, or directional complement (趋向补语; 趨向補語; qūxiàng bǔyǔ) indicates the direction of an action
involving movement. The simplest directional complements are qù (去, "to go") and lái (来; 來, "to come"), which may be added
after a verb to indicate movement away from or towards the speaker, respectively. These may form compounds with other verbs that
further specify the direction, such as shàng qù (上去, "to go up"), gùo lái (过来; 過來, "to come over"), which may then be added to
another verb, such as zǒu (走, "to walk"), as in zǒu gùo qù (走过去; 走過去, "to walk over"). Another example, in a whole sentence:

tā zǒu shàng lái le

他 走 上 来 了。 [他走上來了。]
Literal: he walk up come [perfect-aspect].
Translation: He walked up towards me.

The directional suffixes indicate "up" and "towards".

If the preceding verb has an object, the object may be placed either before or after the directional complement(s), or even between
two directional complements, provided the second of these is notqù (去).[35]

The structure with insertedde or bù is not normally used with this type of double verb. There are exceptions, such as "to be unable to
get out of bed" (起不来床; 起不來床; qǐ bù lái chuáng or 起床不来; 起床不來; qǐ chuáng bù lái).

Coverbs
Chinese has a class of words, called coverbs, which in some respects resemble both verbs and prepositions. They appear with a
following object (or complement), and generally denote relationships that would be expressed by prepositions (or postpositions) in
other languages. However, they are often considered to be lexically verbs, and some of them can also function as full verbs. When a
coverb phrase appears in a sentence together with a main verb phrase, the result is essentially a type of serial verb construction. The
coverb phrase, being anadverbial, precedes the main verb in most cases.For instance:

wǒ bāng nǐ zhǎo tā .
我 帮 你 找 他 。 [我幫你找他。]

Literal: I help you find him

Translation: I will find him for you.

Here the main verb is zhǎo (找, "find"), and bāng (帮; 幫) is a coverb. Here bāng corresponds to the English preposition "for", even
though in other contexts it might be used as a full verb meaning "help".

wǒ zuò fēijī cóng Shànghǎi dào Běijīng qù .

我 坐 飞机 从 上 海 到 北京 去 。 [我坐飛機從上海到北京去。]
 Literal: I sit aeroplane from Shanghai arrive Beijing go.
Translation: I'll go from Shanghai to Beijing by plane.

Here there are three coverbs: zuò (坐 "by"), cóng (从; 從, "from"), and dào (到, "to"). The words zuò and dào can also be verbs,
meaning "sit" and "arrive [at]" respectively.However, cóng is not normally used as a full verb.

A very common coverb that can also be used as a main verb is zài ( 在 ), as described in the Locative phrases section. Another
example is gěi (给), which as a verb means "give". As a preposition, gěi may mean "for", or "to" when marking an indirect object or
in certain other expressions, such as wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà for "I'll give you a telephone call" (我给你打电话; 我給你打電話; "I to
you strike telephone").

Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they can also be referred to simply as prepositions. In Chinese they are called
jiè cí (介词; 介詞), a term which generally corresponds to "preposition", or more generally
, "adposition". The situation is complicated
somewhat by the fact that location markers—which also have meanings similar to those of certain English prepositions—are often
called "postpositions".

Coverbs normally cannot take aspect markers, although some of them form fixed compounds together with such markers, such as
gēnzhe (跟著; "with +[aspect marker]"),ànzhe (按著, "according to"), yánzhe (沿着, "along"), and wèile (为了 "for").[36]

Other cases
Serial verb constructions can also consist of two consecutive verb phrases with parallel meaning, such as hē kāfēi kàn bào, "drink
coffee and read the paper" (喝咖啡看报; 喝咖啡看報; "drink coffee read paper"). Each verb may independently be negated or given
the le aspect marker.[37] If both verbs would have the same object, it is omitted the second time.

Consecutive verb phrases may also be used to indicate consecutive events. Use of the le aspect marker with the first verb may imply
that this is the main verb of the sentence, the second verb phrase merely indicating the purpose. Use of this le with the second verb
changes this emphasis, and may require a sentence-final le particle in addition. On the other hand, the progressive aspect marker zài
(在) may be applied to the first verb, but not normally the second alone. The word qù (去, "go") or lái (来; 來, "come") may be
inserted between the two verb phrases, meaning "in order to".

For constructions with consecutive verb phrases containing the same verb, see under Adverbs. For immediate repetition of a verb, see
Reduplication and Aspects.

Another case is the causative or pivotal construction.[38] Here the object of one verb also serves as the subject of the following verb.
The first verb may be something like gěi (给, "allow", or "give" in other contexts), ràng (让; 讓, "let"), jiào (叫, "order" or "call") or
shǐ (使, "make, compel"), qǐng (请; 請, "invite"), or lìng (令, "command"). Some of these cannot take an aspect marker such as le
when used in this construction, like lìng, ràng, shǐ. Sentences of this type often parallel the equivalent English pattern, except that
English may insert theinfinitive marker "to". In the following example the construction is used twice:

tā yào wǒ qǐng tā hē píjiǔ

他 要 我 请 他 喝 啤酒。 [他要我請他喝啤酒。]
Literal: He want me invite him drink beer
Translation: He wants me to treat him [to] beer.

Particles
Chinese has a number of sentence-final particles – these are weak syllables, spoken with neutral tone, and placed at the end of the
sentence to which they refer. They are often called modal particles or yǔqì zhùcí (语气助词; 語氣助詞), as they serve chiefly to
[39]
express grammatical mood, or how the sentence relates to reality and/or intent. They include:

ma (吗; 嗎), which changes a statement into ayes-no question

ne (呢), which expresses surprise, or produces a question "with expectation"
 ba (吧), which serves as a tag question, e.g. "don't you think so?"; produces a suggestion e.g. "let's..."; or lessens
certainty of a decision.
a (啊)[l], which reduces forcefulness, particularly of an order or question. It can also be used to add positive
connotation to certain phrases or inject uncertainty when responding to a question.
ou (呕; 噢), which signals a friendly warning
zhe (着; 著), which marks the inchoative aspect, or need for change of state, in imperative sentences. Compare the
imperfective aspect markerzhe in the section above)
le (了), which marks a "currently relevant state". This precedes any other sentence-final particles, and can combine
with a (啊) to produce la (啦); and with ou (呕; 噢) to produce lou (喽; 囉).

This sentence-final le ( 了 ) should be distinguished from the verb suffix le ( 了 ) discussed in the Aspects section. Whereas the
sentence-final particle is sometimes described as aninceptive or as a marker of perfect aspect, the verb suffix is described as a marker
of perfective aspect.[40] Some examples of its use:

wǒ méi qián le
我 没 钱 了。 [我沒錢了。]
Literal: I no money [perfect-aspect].
Translation: I have no money nowor I've gone broke.
wǒ dāng bīng le
我 当 兵 了。 [我當兵了。]
Literal: I work soldier [perfect-aspect].
Translation: I have become a soldier.

The position of le in this example emphasizes his present status as a soldier

, rather than the event of
becoming. Compare with thepost-verbal le example given in the Aspects section, wǒ dāng le bīng.
tā kàn sān chǎng qiúsài le
他 看 三 场 球赛 了。 [他看三場球賽了。]
Literal: He watch three [sports-classifier] ballgames [perfect-aspect].
Translation: He [has] watched three ballgames.

Compared with the post-verballe and guo examples, this places the focus on the number three, and does not
specify whether he is going to continue watching more games.

The two uses of le may in fact be traced back to two entirely different words.[41][42] The fact that they are now written the same way
in Mandarin can cause ambiguity, particularly when the verb is not followed by an object. Consider the following sentence:

māma lái le
妈妈 来 了！ [媽媽來了！]
Literal & Translation: Mom come LE.

This le might be interpreted as either the suffixal perfective marker or the sentence-final perfect marker. In the former case it might
mean "mother has come", as in she has just arrived at the door, while in the latter it might mean "mother is coming!", and the speaker
want to inform others of this fact. It is even possible for the two kinds ofle to co-occur:[43]

tā chī le fàn le
他 吃 了 饭 了。[他吃飯了]。
Literal: He eat [perfective-aspect] food [perfect-aspect]
Translation: He has eaten.

Without the first le, the sentence could again mean "he has eaten", or it could mean "he wants to eat now".
Without the final le the sentence would be ungrammatical without appropriate context, as perfectivele cannot
appear in a semantically unbounded sentence.

Cleft sentences
There is a construction in Chinese known as the shì ... [de] construction, which produces what may be called cleft sentences.[44] The
copula shì (是) is placed before the element of the sentence which is to be emphasized, and the optional possessive particle de (的) is
placed at the end of the sentence. For example:

tā shì zuótiān mǎi cài [de]

他 是 昨天 买 菜 [的]。 [他是昨天買菜[的]。]
Literal: He SHI yesterday buy food [DE].
Translation: It was yesterday that he bought food.

If an object following the verb, is to be emphasized in this construction, the shì precedes the object, and the de comes after the verb
and before the shì.

tā zuótiān mǎi de shì cài

他 昨天 买 的 是 菜。 [他昨天買的是菜。]
Literal: He yesterday buy DE SHI vegetable.
Translation: What he bought yesterday was vegetable.

Sentences with similar meaning can be produced usingrelative clauses. For example, "yesterday was the time he bought food" can be
said zuótiān shì tā mǎi cài de shíjiān ( 昨天是他买菜的时间; 昨 天 是 他 買 菜 的 時 間 , literally "yesterday is he buy food DE
time").[45] These may be called pseudo-cleft sentences.

Conjunctions
Chinese has various conjunctions (连词; 連詞; liáncí) such as hé (和, "and"), dànshì (但是, "but"), huòzhě (或者, "or"), etc. However
[46]
Chinese quite often uses no conjunction where English would have "and".

Two or more nouns may be joined together by the conjunctions hé (和, "and") or huò (或 "or"); for example dāo hé chā (刀和叉,
"knife and fork"), gǒu huò māo (狗或貓, "dog or cat").

Certain adverbs are often used as correlative conjunctions, where correlating words appear in each of the linked clauses, such as
búdàn ... érqiě (不但 ... 而且; "not only ... (but) also"), suīrán ... háishì (虽然 ... 还是; 雖然...還是; "although ... still"), yīnwèi ...
suǒyǐ (因为 ... 所以; 因為...所以; "because ... therefore"). Such connectors may appear at the start of a clause or before the verb
phrase.[47]

Similarly, words like jìrán (既然, "since/in response to"), rúguǒ (如果) or jiǎrú (假如) "if", zhǐyào (只要 "provided that") correlate
with an adverb jiù (就, "then") or yě (也, "also") in the main clause, to formconditional sentences.

In some cases, the same word may be repeated when connecting items; these include
yòu ... yòu ... (又...又..., "both ... and ..."), yībiān
... yībiān ... (一边...一边..., "... while ..."), and yuè ... yuè ... (越...越..., "the more ..., the more ...").

Conjunctions of time such as "when" may be translated with a construction that corresponds to something like "at the time (+relative
[48]
clause)", where as usual, the Chinese relative clause comes before the noun ("time" in this case). For example:

dāng wǒ huí jiā de shíhòu ...

当 我 回 家 的 时候 , ... [當我回家的時候...]
Literal: At I return home DE time
Translation: When I return[ed] home...

Variants include dāng ... yǐqián (当...以前; 當...以前 "before ...") and dāng ... yǐhòu (当...以后; 當...以後, "after ..."), which do not
use the relative markerde. In all of these cases, the initialdāng may be replaced by zài (在), or may be omitted. There are also similar
constructions for conditionals:rúguǒ /jiǎrú/zhǐyào ... dehuà (如果/假如/只要...的话, "if ... then"), where huà (话; 話) literally means
"narrative, story".

See also
 Classical Chinese grammar
Cantonese grammar

Notes
a. The first Chinese scholar to consider the concept of a wordcí,( (词; 詞) as opposed to the character (zì, 字) is
claimed to have been Shizhao Zhang in 1907. However , defining the word has proved difficult, and some linguists
consider that the concept is not applicable to Chinese at all. See San Duanmu, The Phonology of Standard Chinese,
OUP 2000.
b. bīngbīngliángliáng 冰冰凉凉; 冰冰涼涼 is also commonly used
c. A more common way to express this would bewǒ bǎ júzi pí bō le (我把橘子皮剥了; 我把橘子皮剝了, "I BA
tangerine's skin peeled"), orwǒ bō le júzi pí (我剥了橘子皮; 我剝了橘子皮, "I peeled tangerine's skin").
d. More rarely used for uncountable nouns.
e. 妳 is an alternative character fornǐ (你, "you") when referring to a female; it is used mainly in script written in
traditional characters.
f. Also used after possessives and relative clauses
g. Not the same character as thede used to mark possessives and relative clauses.
h. Note that this is a different character again from the two types of de previously mentioned.
i. This is similar to the English "by", though it is always followed by an agent.
j. Either the verb or the whole verb phrase may be repeated after the negator
bù; it is also possible to placebù after
the verb phrase and omit the repetition entirely
.
k. Néng (能) does not mean "may" or "can" in the sense of "know how to" or "have the skill to".
l. alternately ya (呀), wa (哇), etc. depending on the preceding sound

References
1. Sun (2006), p. 46 ff. 22. Sun (2006), p. 81 ff.
2. Sun (2006), p. 50. 23. Sun (2006), p. 85.
3. Sun (2006), p. 147. 24. Sun (2006), p. 199.
4. Sun (2006), p. 184. 25. Yip & Rimmington (2004), p. 107.
5. Sun (2006), p. 185. 26. Li & Thompson (1981), p. 185.
6. Li (1990), p. 234 ff.. 27. Sun (2006), p. 70.
7. Sun (2006), p. 161. 28. Yip & Rimmington (2004), p. 109.
8. Li & Thompson (1981), pp. 463–491. 29. Li & Thompson (1981), pp. 29, 234.
9. Li (1990), p. 195. 30. Sun (2006), p. 211.
10. Li (1990), p. 89. 31. Yip & Rimmington (2004), p. 110.
11. Sun (2006), p. 64. 32. Sun (2006), pp. 209–211.
12. Yip & Rimmington (2004), p. 8. 33. Sun (2006), p. 181.
13. Sun (2006), p. 159. 34. Sun (2006), p. 52.
14. Sun (2006), p. 165. 35. Sun (2006), p. 53.
15. Sun (2006), p. 188. 36. Sun (2006), p. 208.
16. Sun (2006), pp. 152, 160. 37. Sun (2006), p. 200.
17. Sun (2006), p. 151. 38. Sun (2006), p. 205.
18. Sun (2006), p. 154. 39. Sun (2006), p. 76 ff.
19. Sun (2006), p. 163. 40. Li & Thompson (1981), quoted in Sun (2006), p. 80.
20. Sun (2006), p. 203. 41. Li & Thompson (1981), pp. 296–300.
21. "Chapter 84: Order of Object, Oblique, and V erb" (htt 42. Chao (1968), p. 246.
p://wals.info/chapter/84). World Atlas of Language 43. Sun (2006), p. 80.
Structures. 2011.
44. Sun (2006), p. 190.
45. Sun (2006), p. 191. 47. Sun (2006), p. 197.
46. Yip & Rimmington (2004), p. 12. 48. Sun (2006), p. 198.

Bibliography
Chao, Yuen Ren (1968). A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN 978-0-520-
00219-7.
Li, Charles N.; Thompson, Sandra A. (1981).Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley:
University of California Press.ISBN 978-0-520-06610-6.
Li, Yen-hui Audrey (1990). Order and Constituency in Mandarin Chinese. Springer. ISBN 978-0-792-30500-2.
Lin, Helen T. (1981). Essential Grammar for Modern Chinese. Cheng & Tsui. ISBN 978-0-917056-10-9.
Ross, Claudia; Ma, Jing-Heng Sheng (2006).Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide
. Routledge.
ISBN 978-0-415-70009-2.
Sun, Chaofen (2006). Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-82380-7.
Yip, Po-Ching; Rimmington, Don (2004).Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15031-0.
Yip, Po-Ching; Rimmington, Don (2006).Chinese: An Essential Grammar(2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-
96979-3.
Lü Shuxiang (吕叔湘) (1957). Zhongguo wenfa yaolüe中国文法要略 [Summary of Chinese grammar]. Shangwu
yinshuguan. OCLC 466418461.
Wang Li (1955). Zhongguo xiandai yufa中国现代语法 [Modern Chinese grammar]. Zhonghua shuju.

Further reading
W. Lobscheid (1864). Grammar of the Chinese language: in two parts, V
olume 2. Office of Daily Press. p. 178.
Retrieved 2011-07-06.
Joshua Marshman, Confucius (1814).Elements of Chinese grammar: with a preliminary dissertation on the
characters, and the colloquial medium of the Chinese, and an appendix containing theahyoh
T of Confucius with a
translation. Printed at the Mission press. p. 622. Retrieved 2011-07-06.

External links
A Summary of Chinese Grammar

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