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The grammar of Standard Chinese shares many features with other varieties of Chinese. The language almost entirely lacks inflection; words typically have only one grammatical form. Categories such as number (singular or plural) and verb tense are often not expressed by grammatical means, but there are several particles that serve to express verbal aspect and, to some extent, grammatical mood.
The basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), as in English. Otherwise, Chinese is chiefly a head-final language, meaning that modifiers precede the words that they modify. In a noun phrase, for example, the head noun comes last, and all modifiers, including , come in front of it. This phenomenon, however, is more typically found in subject–object–verb languages, such as Turkish language and Japanese.
Chinese frequently uses serial verb constructions, which involve two or more verbs or in sequence. Chinese behave similarly to serialized verbs in some respects, and they are often referred to as . There are also location markers, which are placed after nouns and are thus often called ; they are often used in combination with coverbs. Predicate adjectives are normally used without a copular verb ("to be") and so can be regarded as a type of verb.
As in many other East Asian languages, classifiers (or measure words) are required when numerals (and sometimes other words, such as ) are used with nouns. There are many different classifiers in the language, and each countable noun generally has a particular classifier associated with it. Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general classifier in place of other specific classifiers.
Chinese (the smallest units of meaning) are mostly monosyllabic. In most cases, morphemes are represented by single characters. However, two or more monosyllabic morphemes can be translated as a single English word. These monosyllabic morphemes can be either free or bound – that is, in particular usage, they may or may not be able to stand independently. Most two-syllable compound often have the head on the right (e.g. means "cake"), while compound verbs often have the head on the left (e.g. means "debate").
Some Chinese are polysyllabic; for example, the is the compound of and , but this compound is actually simply a transliteration of "sofa". Many native disyllabic morphemes, such as , have consonant alliteration.
Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the same meaning, such as for . Many disyllabic nouns are produced by adding the suffix 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.
Chinese can also be considered a topic-prominent language: there is a strong preference for sentences that begin with the topic, usually "given" or "old" information; and end with the comment, 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.
Another type of sentence is what has been called an ergative verb structure, 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 (, "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:
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. 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.
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 , see the passive section.
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 one clause, see Conjunctions.
With many verbs, however, the indirect object may alternatively be preceded by prepositional gěi (); in that case it may either precede or follow the direct object. (Compare the similar use of to or for in English.)
To emphasize the direct object, it can be combined with the Accusative case marker bǎ (, literally "hold") to form a " bǎ + direct object" phrase. This phrase is placed before the verb. For example:
Other markers can be used in a similar way as bǎ, such as the formal jiāng (, literally "lead") :
and colloquial ná (, literally "get")
To explain this kind of usage, some linguists assume that some verbs can take two direct objects, called the called "inner" and "outer" object. Typically, the outer object will be placed at the start of the sentence (which is the topic) or introduced via the bǎ phrase. For example:
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 (, "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 the yī and leave the classifier on its own at the start of the noun phrase.
The are zhè (, "this"), and nà (, "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. 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 (, "some, several"; also used to pluralize demonstratives) is used without a classifier. However jǐ (, "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 ()—the same particle that is used after relative clauses and sometimes after adjectives—after the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that denotes the possessor.
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 —ambiguity may arise. For example, chī de () 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 (, "for him"), to explain "for whom". Otherwise the whole prepositional phrase is omitted, the preposition then being implicitly understood.
For example sentences, see Relative clause → Mandarin.
(, "bottle") and (, "cup") are both proper classifiers of the countable noun (), while () and () are '''unacceptable'''.
While there are dozens of classifiers, the general classifier gè () is colloquially (i.e. in informal conversations) acceptable for most nouns. However, there are still some exceptions. For example, () is weird and unacceptable.
Most classifiers originated as independent words in Classical Chinese, so they are generally associated with certain groups of nouns with common properties related to their own classical meaning, for example:The following original meaning in Classical Chinese are referenced from Shuowen Jiezi, an old dictionary written during the Eastern Han dynasty.
| + !Classifier (Original meaning) !Common Properties !Examples | ||
| tiáo (, "twig") | long or thin (twigs are long and thin) | yī- tiáo-shéngzi (, "a rope") liǎng- tiáo-shé (, "two snakes") |
| bǎ (, "hold") | with a handle (a handle to hold) | yī- bǎ-dāo (, "a knife") liǎng- bǎ-sǎn (, "two umbrellas") |
| zhāng (, "draw a bow") | flat or sheet-like ("extended" like a bow) | yī zhāng zhào-piàn (, "a photograph") liǎng zhāng máo-pí (, "two furs") |
Classifiers are also used optionally after , and in certain other situations. See the Noun phrases section, and the article Chinese classifier.
Possessives are formed with de (), such as wǒde (, "my, mine"), wǒmende (, "our[s]"), etc. The de may be omitted in phrases denoting inalienable possession, such as wǒ māma (, "my mom").
The demonstrative pronouns are zhè (, "this", colloquially pronounced zhèi as a shorthand for ) and nà (, "that", colloquially pronounced nèi as a shorthand for ). They are optionally pluralized by the addition of plural quantifiers xiē () or qún (). There is a reflexive pronoun zìjǐ () 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 from bǐcǐ (), usually in adverb position. An alternative is hùxiāng (, "mutually").
Gradable adjectives can be modified by words meaning "very", etc.; such modifying adverbs normally precede the adjective, although some, such as jíle (, "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.
Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they behave more like verbs; there is no need for a Chinese copula verb in sentences like "he is happy" in Chinese; one may say simply tā gāoxìng (, "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 (, "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, (, "he is now truly happy"), shì is the copula meaning "is", and le is the inceptive marker discussed later. This is similar to the cleft sentence construction. Sentences can also be formed in which an adjective followed by de () stands as the complement of the copula.
Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives using the clitic de (). 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 (, "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:
There are also certain adverbial "stative complements" which follow the verb. The character de () followed by an adjective functions the same as the phrase "-ly" in English, turning the adjective into an adverb. The second is hǎo le (, "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. 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.
In the following examples locative phrases are formed from a noun plus a locative particle:
The most common preposition of location is zài (, "at, on, in"). With certain nouns that inherently denote a specific location, including nearly all place names, a locative phrase can be formed with zài together with the noun:
However other types of nouns still require a locative particle as a postposition in addition to zài:
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 (, home) and xuéxiào (, "school"), may optionally omit the locative particle. Words like shàngmiàn (, "top") can function as specific-location nouns, like in zài shàngmiàn (, "on top"), but can also take the role of locative particle, not necessarily with analogous meaning. The phrase zài bàozhǐ shàngmiàn (), can mean either "in the newspaper" or "on the newspaper".
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 (), or as the object of a different preposition, such as cóng (, "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, see sentence structure section.
The word zài (), 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 copular verb. For example, "he is at school" (, literally "he at school").
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 (), jiào () or gèng (), all meaning "more". Similarly, can be expressed using the adverb zuì (, "most"), which precedes a predicate verb or adjective.
Adverbial phrases meaning "like [someone/something]" or "as [someone/something]" can be formed using gēn (), tóng () or xiàng () before the noun phrase, and yīyàng () or nàyàng () after it.
The construction yuè ... yuè ... can be translated into statements of the type "the more ..., the more ...".
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 verb yǒu (), which is otherwise used to denote possession.
There is also a sentence-final inchoative le (), which is an aspect-marking particle that indicates a change in state. Following a convention used by some textbooks, it is listed with the modal particles below, even though it does not indicate a grammatical mood.
The perfective le presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety". 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:
Using le () shows this event that has taken place or took place at a particular time.
This format of le () is usually used in a time-delimited context such as "today" or "last week".
The above may be compared with the following examples with guo, and with the examples with sentence-final le given under Particles.
The experiential guo "ascribes to a subject the property of having experienced the event".
This also implies that the speaker no longer is a soldier.
There are also two imperfective aspect markers: zhèngzài () or zài (), and zhe (), 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.
Both markers may occur in the same clause, however. For example, tā zhèngzai dǎ [zhe] diànhuà, "he is in the middle of telephoning someone" ().
The delimitative aspect denotes an action that goes on only for some time, "doing something 'a little bit'". This can be expressed by reduplication of a monosyllabic verb, like the verb zǒu ( "walk") in the following sentence:
An alternative construction is reduplication with insertion of "one" ( yī). For example, zǒu yi zǒu (), which might be translated as "walk a little walk". A further possibility is reduplication followed by kàn ( "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 (), from the verb tǎolùn (), 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 (, "dance"), a delimitative aspect can be marked by reduplicating the first syllable, creating tiào-tiào wǔ (), which may be followed with kàn ().
For negation of a verb intended to denote a completed event, méi or méiyǒu is used instead of bù (), and the aspect marker le () is then omitted. Also, méi[yǒu] is used to negate verbs that take the aspect marker guo (); in this case the aspect marker is not omitted.
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 phraseNot clear (unless the verb is further qualified by gèng (, "even more"), in which case the negator may follow the gèng to produce the meaning "even less").
The negator bié () precedes the verb in negative commands and negative requests, such as in phrases meaning "don't ...", "please don't ...".
The negator wèi () means "not yet". Other items used as negating elements in certain compound words include wú (), wù (), miǎn () and fēi ().
A double negative makes a positive, as in sentences like wǒ bú shì bù xǐhuān tā (, "It's not that I don't like her" ). For this use of shì (), see the Cleft sentences section.
Other interrogative words include:
Disjunctive questions can be made using the word háishì () between the options, like English "or". This differs from the word for "or" in statements, which is huòzhě ().
Yes–no questions can be formed using the sentence-final particle ma (), with word order otherwise the same as in a statement. For example, nǐ chī jī ma? (, "Do you eat chicken?").
An alternative is the A-not-A question construction, using phrases like chī bu chī (, "eat or not eat"). With two-syllable verbs, sometimes only the first syllable is repeated: xǐ-bu-xǐhuān ( , "like or not like"), from xǐhuān (, "like"). It is also possible to use the A-not-A construction with prepositions (coverbs) and phrases headed by them, as with full verbs.
The negator méi () 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 form méiyǒu () must appear.
For answering yes–no questions, Chinese has words that may be used like the English "yes" and "no" – duì () or shì de () for "yes"; bù () 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.
Orders may be softened by preceding them with an element such as qǐng (, "to ask"), in this use equivalent to English "please". See Particles for more. The sentence-final particle ba () can be used to form first-person imperatives, equivalent to "let's...".
Since they indicate an absolute result, such double verbs necessarily represent a completed action, and are thus negated using méi ():
The morpheme de () is placed between the double verbs to indicate possibility or ability. This is not possible with "restrictive" resultative compounds such as jiéshěng (, literally "reduce-save", meaning "to save, economize").
This is equivalent in meaning to néng tīng dǒng (), using the auxiliary néng (), equivalent to "may" or "can".
To negate the above construction, de () is replaced by bù ():
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 (). This verb means "to finish", but when used as a complement for negation purposes it may merely indicate inability. For example: shòu bù liǎo (, "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 (, literally "hungry-until-die already", meaning "to be starving") and qì sǐ le (, literally "mad-until-die already", meaning "to be extremely angry"). The phrases for "hatred" (), "excuse me" (), and "too expensive to buy" () all use the character qǐ (, "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 () literally means "to be unable to look up to"; and duìbùqǐ () means "to be unable to face someone".
Some more examples of resultative complements, used in complete sentences:
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.
Another double-verb where the second verb, "understand", suffixes the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant action.
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 not qù ().
The structure with inserted de 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" ( or ).
Here the main verb is zhǎo (, "find"), and bāng () 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".
Here there are three coverbs: zuò ( "by"), cóng (, "from"), and dào (, "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 (), as described in the Locative phrases section. Another example is gěi (), 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.
Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they can also be referred to simply as prepositions. In Chinese they are called jiè cí (), 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 (), ànzhe (, "according to"), yánzhe (, "along"), and wèile ( "for").
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 () may be applied to the first verb, but not normally the second alone. The word qù (, "go") or lái (, "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. Here the object of one verb also serves as the subject of the following verb. The first verb may be something like gěi (, "allow", or "give" in other contexts), ràng (, "let"), jiào (, "order" or "call") or shǐ (, "make, compel"), qǐng (, "invite"), or lìng (, "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 the infinitive marker "to". In the following example the construction is used twice:
This sentence-final le () should be distinguished from the verb suffix le () discussed in the Aspects section. Whereas the sentence-final particle is sometimes described as an inceptive or as a marker of perfect aspect, the verb suffix is described as a marker of perfective aspect., quoted in , p. 80. Some examples of its use:
The position of le in this example emphasizes his present status as a soldier, rather than the event of becoming. Compare with the post-verbal le example given in the Aspects section, wǒ dāng le bīng. However, when answering a question, the ending should be 呢 instead of 了. For example, to answer a question like "你现在做什么工作？" (What's your job now?), instead of using le, a more appropriate answer should be
Compared with the post-verbal le 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. 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:
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 wants to inform others of this fact. It is even possible for the two kinds of le to co-occur:
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 perfective le cannot appear in a semantically unbounded sentence.
The demonstrative pronouns zhè (, "this"), and nà (, "that") may be optionally pluralized by the addition of xiē (，"few"), making zhèxiē (, "these") and nàxiē (, "those").
Example with a sentence that ends with a complement:
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.
Sentences with similar meaning can be produced using relative clauses. These may be called pseudo-cleft sentences.
Two or more nouns may be joined by the conjunctions hé (, "and") or huò ( "or"); for example dāo hé chā (, "knife and fork"), gǒu huò māo (, "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 (), suīrán ... háishì (), yīnwèi ... suǒyǐ (). Such connectors may appear at the start of a clause or before the verb phrase.
Similarly, words like jìrán (, "since/in response to"), rúguǒ () or jiǎrú () "if", zhǐyào ( "provided that") correlate with an adverb jiù (, "then") or yě (, "also") in the main clause, to form conditional sentences.
In some cases, the same word may be repeated when connecting items; these include yòu ... yòu ... (, "both ... and ..."), yībiān ... yībiān ... (, "... while ..."), and yuè ... yuè ... (, "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 clause)", where as usual, the Chinese relative clause comes before the noun ("time" in this case). For example:
Variants include dāng ... yǐqián ( "before ...") and dāng ... yǐhòu (, "after ..."), which do not use the relative marker de. In all of these cases, the initial dāng may be replaced by zài (), or may be omitted. There are also similar constructions for conditionals: rúguǒ /jiǎrú/zhǐyào ... dehuà (, "if ... then"), where huà () literally means "narrative, story".
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