Catherine Dai - Essential Mandarin Chinese Phrasebook & Dictionary

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Basic grammar Chinese grammar is very simple. There are no verb conjugations, no plurals, no gender forms, no articles and the sentence order is essentially the same as English. This section presents a basic guide to Chinese grammar in terms familiar to English speakers. 1 Word order Chinese word order is the same as in English: subject + verb + object . W b hu shu Hny.

I not can speak Chinese = I dont speak Chinese. W yo q Bijng. I want go Beijing = I want to go to Beijing. Qng gi w y bi lng kishu. Please give me one glass cold drinking water = Id like a glass of cold water. (See page ) N hu shu Hny ma? You can speak Chinese (question marker) = Do you speak Chinese? N yo q Bijng ma? You want go Beijing (question marker) = Do you want to go to Beijing? N ky gi w y bi lng ki shu ma? You can give me one glass cold water (question marker) = Can you give me a glass of cold (drinking) water? 2 Nouns Mandarin nouns often consist of two characters or syllables joined together. (See page ) N hu shu Hny ma? You can speak Chinese (question marker) = Do you speak Chinese? N yo q Bijng ma? You want go Beijing (question marker) = Do you want to go to Beijing? N ky gi w y bi lng ki shu ma? You can give me one glass cold water (question marker) = Can you give me a glass of cold (drinking) water? 2 Nouns Mandarin nouns often consist of two characters or syllables joined together.

For example, Hny the Chinese language, losh teacher or kfi coffee . No distinction is made between the singular and plural forms. When it is necessary to indicate a plural, this is done by adding a number and a measure word to indicate the number of items involved (see page ). 3 Pronouns Chinese pronouns are used just as we use English pronouns. The same word can have two meanings, for example, w can refer to both I and me. The other pronouns in Chinese are n you, t he/him, t she/her and t it (the last three all share the same pronunciation but are written with different characters).

To indicate plural forms, you add the suffix -men so the plural forms are wmen we/us, nmen you (plural), tmen they/them (either all male or mixed genders) and tmen they/them (all female). The pronoun for animals or insects is tmen they/them (same pronunciation but different characters). 4 This and That In addition to the personal pronouns, there are demonstrative pronouns zh this and n that. The plural forms are: zh xi these and n xi those. 5 Possessives To indicate possession, simply add the particle de between the words. y zhng zh one sheet paper = one sheet of paper ling bi kfi two cups coffee = two cups of coffee sn bn sh three (measure word for books) books = three books Take note that when counting objects, the word for r two becomes ling a couple of. y zhng zh one sheet paper = one sheet of paper ling bi kfi two cups coffee = two cups of coffee sn bn sh three (measure word for books) books = three books Take note that when counting objects, the word for r two becomes ling a couple of.

Here are some common measure words.

Measure words	Used for	Examples
zhng	flat, wide objects	y zhng zh one sheet of paper
y zhng zhuzi one table
bn	bound books	sn bn sh three books
zh	one out of a pair	y zh shu one hand
zh	stick-like objects	ling zh b two pens
ling	vehicles with wheels	sn ling ch three cars
shung	a pair	y shung xi a pair of shoes
tio	long pieces of clothing or fabric and roads	ling tio kzi two (pairs of) pants
bi	cups or glasses	ling bi kfi two cups of coffee

If you cant remember all these, there is an all-purpose measure word ge which can be used instead of the above measure words y ge sh one book or s ge xngli four suitcases. The word ge means piece and is also used in phrases like zh ge this one, n ge that one, n ge which one or j ge how many (items)? 7 Verbs Chinese verbs are never conjugated, and have only one simple form regardless of subject or tense. Thus the verb ch to eat is the same whether the subject is I, you, he/she or they, and whether the action took place in the past, present or future. For example, W ch jiozi. I eat dumplings = I eat dumplings.

This sentence can mean I ate dumplings or I am eating dumplings. W q Bijng. I go Beijing = I am going to Beijing. Similarly, this could mean I went to Beijing, I am going to Beijing or I will go to Beijing. 8 Past and future tense To indicate time in Chinese, you add in time words like yesterday, today, tomorrow, already and will. For example: W zutin ch jiozi.

I yesterday eat dumplings = Yesterday I ate dumplings. W jntin ch jiozi. I today eat dumplings = Today I am eating dumplings. W mngtin ch jiozi. I tomorrow eat dumplings. = Tomorrow Ill eat dumplings.

You can also add the following to indicate time: The addition of guo = passed after the verb indicates that the action occurred at an unspecified time in the past: W ch guo jiozi. I ate (passed) dumplings = Ive eaten dumplings already. The use of le = completed after the verb indicates actions that were just completed: W ch le jiozi. I ate (completed) dumplings = Ive just eaten dumplings. The addition of yo = want or hu = will/shall before the verb indicates a future action: W yo ch jiozi. I want eat dumplings = Im going to eat the dumplings.

W hu ch nxi jiozi. I will eat those dumplings = Ill be eating those dumplings. 9 Adjectives Adjectives generally precede the nouns they modify, sometimes with the possessive word de added in between. For example,

xio xingmo	a small panda
zng yfu	dirty clothes
ho pngyou	good friends
mil de fngjng	beautiful scenery
mnggu de lw	expensive gift
toyn de wnzi	annoying mosquitoes

10 Adverbs Adverbs are usually placed before the words they modify. Common examples are: hn very, y also, bjio comparatively, relatively, ji then, zng always. For example, Chngchng hn chng.

Great Wall very long = The Great Wall is very long. W y xing q Shnghi. I also want go Shanghai = I want to go to Shanghai too. Shnghi xitin bjio r. Shanghai summer rather hot = Shanghai is rather hot in summer. N xin zu, w mshng ji li You first go, I immediately then come = Go first, Ill join you very soon.

Wyu de shhou, zh l zng xiy. May (month) (possessive) time this place always rains = In May, it always rains here. 11 Negatives There are two common words used to express the negative in Chinese: b and mi . The most often used one is b = not. The word mi is used express actions not completed as in miyu = do not have, did not. Fnci b ho ch.

Food not good eat = The food is not good. W b q le. I not go anymore = I am not going anymore. T b zi zhr. He not at here = Hes not here. W zho b do zhge dzh.

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