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Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Contents Part A Structures 1 1 Overview of Pronunciation and Pinyin Romanization 3 1.1 The Mandarin syllable 3 1.2 Pinyin Romanization 5 2 Syllable, Meaning, and Word 7 2.1.The special status of the Mandarin syllable 7 2.2 Multi-syllable tendency in Mandarin words 8 2.3 Word-specific tone changes 11 2.4 Change to neutral tone 13 2.5 Incorporating foreign words and naming foreign objects 15 3 The Chinese Writing System: An Overview 18 3.1 Traditional and simplified characters 18 3.2 The structure of Chinese characters: the radical and the phonetic 19 3.3 The traditional classification of characters 22 3.4 Character stroke order 25 4 Grammatical Categories, Grammatical Terms, and Basic Phrase Order 27 4.1 Grammatical categories in Mandarin Chinese 27 4.2 Grammatical category shift 31 4.3 Additional grammatical terms used in describing Mandarin Chinese 32 4.4 Basic phrase order in the Mandarin sentence 37 5 Nouns 43 5.1 Common nouns 43 5.2 Pronouns 46 5.3 Proper nouns 51 6 Numbers 54 6.1 Mandarin numbers 0-99 54 6.2 Numbers 100 and higher 56 6.3 Formal characters for numbers 60 6.4 Ordinal numbers 61 6.5 Estimates and approximations 61 6.6. Fractions, percentages, decimals, half, and multiples 64 6.7 Lucky and unlucky numbers 70 6.8 Numbers used in phrases and expressions 70 6.9 ?y" as a marker of sequence 72 6.10. Numbers that are used as words 72 7 Specifiers and Demonstratives 74 7.1 ?/? zh„ this and ? n, that as demonstratives 74 7.2 ?/? zh„, zh„i this/these and ? n,, n„i that/those as specifiers 75 7.3 ??/?? zh„r and ??/?? zh„lÞ here, ??/?? n,r and ??/?? n,lÞ there 77 7.4 Question words that correspond to specifiers 78 8 Classifiers 80 8.1 The structure of phrases involving classifiers 80 8.2 Choosing the classifier 81 8.3 Omission of the head noun 86 8.4 Classifiers that occur without a noun 87 8.5 Money and prices 87 9 Noun Phrases 90 9.1 Modifying a noun with a specifier and/or number 90 9.2 Modifying a noun with all other modifiers: Modification with ? de 91 9.3 Omission of the particle ? de 97 9.4 Noun modifiers in a series 97 9.5 Omission of the head noun 99 9.6 Modification with ? zh" 100 10 Adjectival Verbs 102 10.1 Negation of adjectival verbs 102 10.2 Yes-No Questions with Adjectival Verbs 103 10.3 Modification by intensifiers 103 10.4 Two syllable preference 105 10.5 Comparative meaning 106 10.6 Superlative meaning 107 10.7 Adjectival verbs and comparison structures 107 10.8 Linking adjectival verbs 108 10.9 Adjectival verbs and expressions that indicate change over time 108 10.10 Adjectival verbs and sentence final -?le 109 11 Stative Verbs 110 11.1 Negation of stative verbs 110 11.2 Modification by intensifiers 111 11.3 Indicating completion, past time, and change of state 112 11.4 The equational verb ? sh‰ to be 113 11.5 The equational verb ? x‰ng to be family named 117 11.6 The verb of possession and existence ? yßu to have; to exist 119 11.7 The location verb ? z,i to be located at 121 12 Modal Verbs 124 12.1 Expressing possibility 124 12.2 Expressing ability 124 12.3 Expressing permission 126 12.4 Expressing obligations 127 12.5 Expressing prohibitions 129 12.6 Grammatical properties of modal verbs 130 13 Action Verbs 136 13.1 Indicating that an action is completed or past 136 13.2 Indicating that an action has been experienced in the past 137 13.3 Negating actions 137 13.4 Open-ended action verbs 139 13.5 Change of state action verbs 144 14 Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases 146 14.1 The grammar of the prepositional phrase in the Mandarin sentence 146 14.2 Basic functions of prepositions 148 14.3 Prepositions that also function as verbs 154 15 Adverbs 157 15.1 General properties of adverbs 157 15.2 Adverbs with logical function: ? y›, ? d"u, ?/? h÷i, ? jiÊ, ? zhÞ, and ? c÷i 160 16 Conjunctions 172 16.1 Conjunctions that indicate an øadditiveø or øandø relationship 172 16.2 Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or øorø relationship 173 17 Passive 176 17.1 The structure of the Mandarin passive 176 17.2 The passive and negation 178 17.3 Conditions for using the passive in Mandarin 179 17.4 Differences between the passive markers ? b„i, ? ji,o, and ?/? r,ng 181 17.5 Additional functions of ?/? r,ng, ? ji,o, and ?/? g›i 181 17.6 English passives and their Mandarin equivalents 182 Part B Situations and Functions 185 18 Names, Kinship Terms, Titles, and Terms of Address 187 18.1 Names: ?? x‰ngmÿng 187 18.2 Kinship terms 189 18.3 Titles 191 18.4 Addressing others 194 18.5 Addressing new acquaintances and negotiating terms of address 196 18.6 Name cards and business cards 200 18.7 Addressing letters and envelopes 203 19 Introductions 210 19.1 The general format of introductions 210 19.2 Sample introductions 211 19.3 Common professions and fields of study 213 20 Greetings and Goodbyes 217 20.1 Greetings in conversations 217 20.2 Saying goodbye in conversations 221 20.3 Greetings and goodbyes in letters 225 21 Basic Strategies for Communication 234 21.1 Attracting someoneøs attention 234 21.2 Responding to a call for attention 236 21.3 Checking whether people have understood you 236 21.4 Indicating understanding or lack of understanding 236 21.5 Requesting repetition or clarification of spoken language 237 21.6 Asking for assistance in identifying a Chinese character 237 21.7 Providing information about the identification of Chinese characters 238 21.8 Signaling that you are following the speaker 239 21.9 Interrupting a speaker 239 21.10 Using fillers 239 21.11 Formal development of a topic 240 22 Telecommunications and e-communications: Telephones, the internet, beepers, and faxes 243 22.1 Sending and receiving phonecalls, faxes, email, and beeper messages 243 22.2 Dialing a number and entering a number 246 22.3 Using the internet 247 22.4 Telephone etiquette 247 22.5 Writing and reciting phone numbers, fax numbers, and beeper numbers 249 23 Negating Information 251 23.1 Negation of verbs and verb phrases 251 23.2 The relative order of negation and adverbs 254 23.3 Words that occur with negation 256 23.4 ? bÊ in resultative verb structures 257 23.5 Literary markers of Negation: ? w/ and ? f; i 258 24 Asking Questions and Replying to Questions 262 24.1 Yes-No questions 262 24.2 Asking for agreement 270 24.3 Choosing between alternatives with either-or questions 273 24.4 Rhetorical questions 275 24.5 Follow-up questions with ? ne 275 24.6 Content questions 276 25 Expressing Identification, Possession, and Existence 287 25.1 Expressing identification 287 25.2 Expressing possession 289 25.3 Expressing existence 293 26 Describing People, Places, and Things 297 26.1 Equational sentences: identifying or describing the subject with a noun phrase in the predicate 297 26.2 Describing the subject with a predicate that is an adjectival verb 297 26.3 Identifying or describing a noun with a modifying phrase 298 26.4 Asking questions about the attributes of a person, place or thing 299 26.5 Describing an item in terms of the material that it is made of 301 26.6 Describing nouns in terms of attributes that imply comparison 302 26.7 Describing people in terms of age 303 26.8 Describing the weather 306 26.9 Talking about illness and other medical conditions 311 27 Describing How Actions are Performed 315 27.1 Describing the general or past performance of an action with a manner adverbial phrase 315 27.2 Asking about the performance of an action 318 27.3 Describing the performance of an entire action with an adverbial modifier 319 28 Indicating Result, Conclusion, Potential, and Extent 323 28.1 Indicating the result or conclusion of an action with resultative verbs 323 28.2 Indicating the ability to reach a conclusion or result: the potential infixes ? de and ? bu 331 28.3 Summary of the functions of resultative verbs 333 28.4 Indicating the ability to perform the verb: The potential suffixes ??deli‹o and ?? buli‹o 334 28.5 Indicating the result or extent of a situation 342 29 Making Comparisons 344 29.1 Similarity 344 29.2 Difference 353 29.3 More than 356 29.4 Less than 367 29.5 Comparative degree 373 29.6 Superlative degree 374 29.7 Relative degree 375 30 Talking About the Present 377 30.1 Time expressions that indicate present time 377 30.2 Using ? z,i and ?? zh„ngz,i to indicate ongoing actions in present time 378 30.3 Using the final particle ? ne to indicate ongoing situations in present time 379 30.4 Using ?/? zhe to emphasize ongoing duration or an ongoing state in the present time 380 30.5 Indicating present time by context 382 30.6 Negation in present time situations 383 30.7 Talking about action that begin in the past and continue to the present 383 30.8 Describing situations that are generally true 385 31 Talking About Habitual Actions 386 31.1 Expressing habitual time with the word ? m›i every/each 386 31.2 Expressing habitual time with ?? ti/nti/n and ?? ni÷nni÷n 387 31.3 Adverbs that describe habitual actions 387 32 Talking About the Future 392 32.1 Time words that refer to future time 392 32.2 Adverbs that refer to future time 393 32.3 Indicating future time with the modal verb ?/? hu‰ 394 32.4 Verbs that refer to future time 395 33 Indicating Completion and Talking About the Past 397 33.1 Completion: V-? le 397 33.2 Talking about sequence in the past 399 33.3 Indicating that an action did not occur in the past 400 33.4 Asking whether an action has occurred 402 33.5 Indicating that an action occurred again in the past: ? yÂu Verb ? le 403 33.6 Talking about past experience: verb -?/? guo 404 33.7 Comparing the verb suffixes ?/? guo and ? le 407 33.8 Adverbs that indicate past time 409 33.9 Focusing on a detail of a past event with ?ø ? sh‰ ø. de 411 34 Talking About Change, New Situations, and Changing Situations 414 34.1 Indicating that a situation represents a change 414 34.2 Comparing sentences with and without sentence final -?le 416 34.3 Indicating change over time 417 34.4 Nouns and verbs that express change 420 35 Talking About Duration and Frequency 426 35.1 Specifying the length of an action with a duration phrase 426 35.2 Emphasizing ongoing duration 432 35.3 Indicating the ongoing duration of a background event 436 35.4 Indicating frequency 437 36 Expressing Additional Information 440 36.1 ? y› also 440 36.2 ?/? h÷i in addition, also 441 36.3 ??/?? h÷i yßu in addition 441 36.4 ??/?? b‰ngqi› moreover 442 36.5 ??/?? z,ishu" besides, moreover, to put it another way 442 36.6 ? ×r and, but 443 36.7 ? h× and ? g; n øandø 443 36.8 ??ø??ø bÊd,n ... ×rqi› ø not onlyø but alsoø 443 36.9 ?ø?ø yÂu ... yÂu ... both ø and ø 444 36.10 ?? ø ?? ch/le øyÞw,i besides ø 445 37 Expressing Contrast 447 37.1 Expressing contrast with paired connecting words 447 37.2 Adverbs that indicate contrast 450 37.3 Qualifying a statement with an adjectival verb or stative verb 453 38 Expressing Sequence 455 38.1 Expressing the relationship øbeforeø 455 38.2 Expressing the relationship øafterø in a single sentence 457 38.3 Indicating that one event happens first and another event happens afterwards 465 38.4 Indicating øafterwardsø in a separate sentence 467 38.5 Comparing ?? yÞqi÷n before with ??/?? yÞhÂu after 469 39 Expressing Simultaneous Situations 471 39.1 Indicating that one situation is the background for another situation 471 39.2 Indicating that two actions occur at the same time 472 39.3 Indicating that two actions occur in the same time frame 473 39.4 Describing a subject in terms of two qualities that exist at the same time 474 39.5 Indicating that a situation is reached at a specific point in time 474 39.6 Presenting simultaneous situations 475 40 Expressing Cause and Effect or Reason and Result 477 40.1 Expressing cause and effect or reason and result in a single sentence 477 40.2 Introducing the cause or reason 480 40.3 Introducing the effect or result 484 40.4 Inquiring about cause or reason 484 41 Expressing Conditions 488 41.1 øIf ø thenø conditional sentences 488 41.2 øeven ifø 492 41.3 øas long asø 493 41.4 øonly ifø, øunlessø 493 41.5 øotherwiseø 493 42. Expressing both, all, every, any, none, not any, and no matter how 496 42.1 Expressing both and all 496 42.2 Expressing none 499 42.3 Expressing every 500 42.4 Expressing every, any, not any and no matter how with question words 503 43 Expressing Location and Distance 512 43.1 Location 512 43.2 Indicating that an object exists or does not exist at a location 521 43.3 Using location as a description 523 43.4 Talking about distance 526 43.5 Asking about distance 529 44 Talking about Movement, Directions, and Means of Transportation 532 44.1 Talking about øgoingø and øcomingø 532 44.2 Talking about turning 534 44.3 Talking about crossing 535 44.4 Talking about arriving 536 44.5 Talking about means of transportation 537 44.6 Asking about locations and asking for directions 539 44.7 Asking for and giving directions: Sample conversations 541 44.8 Talking about directional movement 543 45 Talking about Clock Time and Calendar Time 546 45.1 Clock time 546 45.2 Calendar time 555 46 Expressing Obligation and Prohibitions 569 46.1 Expressing obligations 569 46.2 Expressing prohibitions: must not, should not 575 47 Expressing Commands and Permission 580 47.1 Commands 580 47.2 Permission 583 48 Expressing Ability and Possibility 587 48.1 Expressing ability 587 48.2 Expressing possibility 589 49 Expressing Desires, Needs, Preferences, and Willingness 592 49.1 Expressing desires 592 49.2 Expressing needs 594 49.3 Expressing preferences 594 49.4 Expressing willingness 596 50 Expressing Knowledge, Advice, and Opinions 597 50.1 Expressing knowledge 597 50.2 Advice and opinions 600 51 Expressing Fear or Worry 608 51.1 Expressing fear of something 608 51.2 Expressing fear that something may happen or has happened 609 51.3 Indicating that something is scary 611 51.4 Indicating that something scares someone 611 51.5 Indicating that someone is scared or nervous 612 52 Expressing Speaker Attitudes and Perspectives 615 52.1 Interjections 615 52.2 Sentence final particles 618 53 Topic, Focus, and Emphasis 621 53.1 Introducing a topic 621 53.2 Focus 625 53.3 Emphasis 634 54 Guest and Host 637 54.1 Welcoming the guest 638 54.2 Offering food and drink 638 54.3 Inviting the guest to get comfortable 639 54.4 Saying goodbye and seeing the guest off 639 54.5 Additional expressions involving guest and host 641 55 Giving and Responding to Compliments 642 55.1 Cultural conventions regarding praise 642 55.2 Expressions used in deflecting praise 642 55.3 Compliments and appropriate responses 643 56 Expressing Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction 646 56.1 Expressing satisfaction 646 56.2 Expressing dissatisfaction 649 57 Expressing Gratitude and Responding to Expressions of Gratitude 652 57.1 Expressing gratitude 652 57.2 Replying to expressions of gratitude 654 58 Invitations, Requests, and Refusals 655 58.1 Invitations 656 58.2 Requests 662 58.3 Refusals 664 58.4 Abandoning a request 668 59 Expressing Apologies, Regrets, and Sympathy 670 59.1 Apologies and regrets 670 59.2 Expressing sympathy 673 59.3 Saying that you are glad about something 674 60 Expressing Congratulations and Good Wishes 676 60.1 General expressions of congratulations and good wishes 676 60.2 Fixed phrases of congratulations and good wishes for special events 677 60.3 Replying to expressions of congratulations and good wishes 681
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication:
Chinese language -- Grammar.