Cielle
Sentence structures in Chinese (Mandarin, Taiwanese) How should I arrange a sentence in Chinese? Can someone please give me an example?
Aug 5, 2013 8:00 AM
Answers · 8
1
This is from my Chinese book: Basic Word Order in Chinese SUBJECT (who) - TIME (when) - PLACE (where) - PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE - VERB - OBJECT/PURPOSE (why) SUBJECT As in English, the Subject occurs at the beginning of the sentence. TIME (i.e. when some activity takes place, or when some state exists) English: at the end of the sentence: Mary was sick YESTERDAY. Chinese: after (or before) the Subject: Mary YESTERDAY was sick. PLACE (i.e. where some event occurs) English: after the predicate: John lost his money IN HIS OFFICE. Chinese: before the Verb: John IN HIS OFFICE lost his money. When a sentence contains both TIME and PLACE: English: PLACE - TIME: John lost his money IN HIS OFFICE YESTERDAY. Chinese: TIME - PLACE: John YESTERDAY IN HIS OFFICE lost his money. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (i.e. specifies with whom, with what, to whom, for whom, etc. - which qualify the manner or direction of some activity) English: follows the Verb (or Object): John studied French WITH A GERMAN. Chinese: precedes the Verb: John WITH A GERMAN studied French. When a sentence contains, TIME, PLACE, PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE and VERB: English: VERB - PP - PLACE - TIME: John STUDIED French WITH A GERMAN IN PARIS LAST YEAR. Chinese: TIME - PLACE - PP - VERB: John LAST YEAR IN PARIS WITH A GERMAN STUDIED French. OBJECT Although the Object normally occurs after the Verb, it is important to remember that the Object in Chinese has a great deal of freedom as regards its position in a sentence: it can appear at the very beginning of a sentence, before the Subject, directly before the Verb, or even deleted altogether. In fact, when both parties to a conversation are clear as to the context, Subjects and Objects are often deleted.
August 5, 2013
Hi Cielle, I am not sure if I understand your question but I will try to give you an example that I always use. The weather is very good today. Cuaca hari ini sangat bagus. 今天的天气太好了。 오늘 날씨 정말 좋아요 今日、天気がいいです You see that chinese/korean/japanese had similar structure: Today...weather...very good. Malay had a slightly different structure: Weather...today...very good. Good luck!
August 5, 2013
例如:我 喜欢 中国。 句子的一般基本语序:主语 (subject)+ 谓语 (predicate ) + 宾语(object) “我“ 是主语,”喜欢“是谓语,”中国“是宾语。
August 5, 2013
你吃饭了吗?have you eaten? we use this to greet people very often!
August 5, 2013
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!