Chinese Language Stack Exchange
Chinese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [grammar]

Questions about the grammatical rules governing Chinese structure and composition.

Grammar is the set of rules around constructing sentences in a language.

Chinese is a mostly SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) language. It is also isolating (morphemes are frequently words), and analytic (no inflections).

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的, 地, 得, when do you use which?

So the age old question of 的, 地, 得, when do you use which? When spoken, it all sounds the same, but on paper it depends on if it's a verb, noun, adjective. But I don't quite remember if that is all that matters or which applies to which. Can someone…
mugetsu
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Does 多 always come after the measure word？

I've realized that I still don't fully understand the placement of "多“ a relatively common word. Can you never place 多 before a measure word? A friend recently corrected my "四多快美金“ into 四块多美金” but does that apply for all measure word 比如， 三十多条蛇…
Stephen
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Does an Alarm clock 吵醒 or 叫醒？

I'm trying to figure out whether an alarm clock 吵醒我， or 叫醒我。 I'd like to say the sentence my alarm clock woke me up at 5:30 today my translation so far is 今天早上五点半， 我手机的闹钟叫醒了我。 Can 叫醒 be done by inanimate objects? Is this construction used in…
Stephen
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Use of 十年中 to express duration

Does 十年中 mean "in ten years"? I found it in this sentence from tatoeba.org: 他十年中第一次回家。 He returned home for the first time in ten years. It seems like I could use the same pattern to say, "I haven't had a drink in five years." 我五年中没有喝酒。 Does that…
Don Kirkby
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What is the pattern for 'instead of x, y...'

For example, how would I say, 'instead of x, we should do y'? I find it hard to balance the sentence correctly in chinese. Do I need to use, 反而 or 而且? Or is there some better method?
jaffa
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Measure Words and their English Analogue

I was taught that the closest analogue in English of Chinese measure words are 'units', e.g. "a pile of wood", "a cup of water", etc. What strikes me as a bit odd about this analogy is that the units in English add semantic meaning to the sentence…
Jonathan Gleason
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How is 就 (jiù) used?

Pimsleur's Mandarin course teaches "I'm leaving very early tomorrow morning" as: 我明天早上很早就走 (wŏ míngtiān zăoshàng hĕn zăo jiù zŏu) It says that 就 (jiù) doesn't have a corresponding meaning in English, but, frustratingly, that's all it says about…
Cocowalla
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Indefinite article vs numeral: use of "一" (yī)

Sometimes, when the English has an indefinite article ("a", "an"), the Chinese translation has a numeral ("一", yī). So, for example, "I want to buy a ticket" sounds like "I want to buy one ticket". Sometimes the article in Chinese is just…
Starnuto di topo
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What's the correct translation for 1.5 months? Is it "一个月半" or "一个半月“?

What's the correct translation for 1.5 months? Is it "一个月半" or "一个半月“?
NDeLeon
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Can I say 在..住? Why do we say 我住在..？

As far as I know in Chinese sentences we should use adverb after subject and before the verb. For example: 我在上网聊天儿。 So can I say 我(S)在北京(adverb)住(verb)？ Why do we say 我住在北京？
Nilsu Aksoy
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Is the measure word optional in 这件毛衣?

I've heard the sentence 这毛衣, (so without measure word), but my chinese manual always use a measure word after 这: 这件毛衣 这件苹果 Is the measure word optionnal in after 这 ?
BAK
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What is the difference in usage between 以后 and 之后？

Today John Pasden linked to an old Sinosplice post in which he discussed how Chinese grammatical categories cannot be mapped neatly onto those of Indo-European…
Benjameno
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What is the function of 了 in the sentence "她会杀了你的"?

What is the function of 了 in the following sentence? Does it imply a sequence of actions? 她会杀了你的。"She will kill you."
Benjameno
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Why should I use 由 here and not 被?

I could choose 由 or 被. Why should I choose 由? Are there any good reasons for this choice? 这件事 _______ 公司负责。My girlfriend immediately said 由， but she couldn't say why. Considering the answers below about 被 only being used with the perfective, if I…
Pedroski
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我一字一字地学习汉语 OR 我一个字一个字地学习汉语

Which is the correct use of this grammar pattern? 我一字一字地学习汉语。 我一个字一个字地学习汉语。 The first one feels correct to me. The pattern is: 一{MW,N}一{MW,N} + 地 + V
JamesD
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