In my Chinese textbook, for a dialogue, one of the lines says "我下个星期要考中文". Why is 中文 after 考, shouldn't the sentence be "我下个星期要中文的考"?
3 Answers
考 is the verb.
我 / 下个星期 / 要 / 考 / 中文
I / next week / will / test / Chinese
If it helps, you could regard 考中文 here as a set construction meaning "to have a Chinese test". Same for 考数学 etc.
If you want to get 考 further back in your sentence, you might write:
我下周有汉语考试。Next week I have a Chinese exam.
汉语 Chinese language
考试 exam
我下个星期要考中文 because in this sentence, 考 is a verb, 中文 is a noun. do something after 要 (preposition)
In other word, 我下个星期有中文考试
考中文考试to have a Chinese testwould also be acceptable phrasing. Perhaps it is the omission of 考试 (test) that is throwing you off.