Learn Chinese Sentence Structure Easily

When learning Chinese, it's important to have a basic understanding of simple sentence structures, so that you can put subjects, verbs, and other phrases together properly. Since there are many distinctions to be aware of, it's probably best to begin with a comparison between English and Chinese. Of course, just as with English, there is a lot of flexibility with structures, especially as you work with more complex sentences.

The Contrast

In English, the simplest sentence structure begins with a person (subject), then the action (verb), and then ends with time and location phrases (predicate). For example, you might say, "I ate a sandwich in the afternoon at the park." In Chinese, the sentence structure is slightly inverted. The sentence structure for this in Chinese would look more like "I in the afternoon at the park ate a sandwich." Thus, the basic Chinese structure is

subject + time + location + verb

The Comparison

For both languages, you can rearrange different sentence patterns either for emphasis or to be appropriate for the situation. Just as you can say, "This afternoon I ate a sandwich at the park," you might say in Chinese, "In the afternoon, I at the park ate a sandwich." (Of course, we know noodles or dishes with rice are much more common than sandwiches, but it's just an example).

Reminders

First, try not to stack too many phrases at the beginning of the sentence because the subject should always be first or second in the sentence order. Something like, "At the park in the afternoon, I ate a sandwich" is very rare (if not incorrect) in Chinese. A second thought to keep in mind is that it's very common for the verb (ate) or verb with the object (ate a sandwich) to come at the end of the sentence.

Other points of interest include the fact that verbs are not conjugated to match the subject. Instead of "I am" and "you are," you simply say the subject (I or you) with the verb (to be). There is also no need to add "s" either to a noun (sandwiches) or the verb (eats).

Finally, related to verbs and adjectives, you'll find that a verb is generally not needed with a predicate adjective. There is no need to say, "I am hungry" because you simply say "stomach hungry." If describing another person, there's no need for "He is tall" or "She is thin." Instead, just say, "He tall" and "She thin."

Benefits

So, when you really consider Mandarin Chinese, you find that it has many benefits! First, there's no need to conjugate verbs. Second, no "s" or "es" are needed after nouns to make them plural. And finally, nouns and predicate adjectives can be used together without the need for the verb "to be" between them. (Of course, "is" can be added to show emphasis, but it's not the norm). With all of these benefits, the Chinese language is certainly a good choice!

For further detail, see my blog where you can receive a free study guide that will help you in learning the Chinese language.

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