Questions tagged [grammar]
Questions about the grammatical rules governing Chinese structure and composition.
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English analogy for why 我是去...的 can't appear without context
I understand 我是上个星期去法国吃的美食 means something like "I went to France last week to eat good food"
But why can 我是去...的 phrases like 我是上个星期去法国吃的美食 only be answers to questions (or otherwise ...
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Use of 不 for negation in the 不曾...過 pattern
In Emil Wakin Chau's song 朋友 péngyou, there is a line:
朋友不曾孤單過。
péngyou bùcéng gūdān guò.
I think the meaning is something like "friends haven't (ever) been/felt lonely".
I find this use of ...
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两 vs 二 in large numbers
What are the exact rules for choosing between 二 and 两 for writing large numbers (larger than 11)? What I understood was:
For things like serial numbers, codes, where the number is written or read ...
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What is the meaning/purpose of 一 in the following sentence?
水乌儿一抿翅膀
The waterbird tucked its wings.
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When can we start a question with 什么是……?
The important thing to remember is that word order is the same in Chinese for questions and statements.
Placement of question words, Chinese Grammar Wiki
While the Chinese Grammar Wiki says this, it ...
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Does omitting pronouns change the relationship between sentences?
Compare the following sentences:
妈妈昨天喝茶，今天喝咖啡。
妈妈不喝茶，她喝咖啡。
Sentence (1) seems quite straightforward: the pronoun is omitted because it is clear who is being talked about and there is no need to ...
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Which 了 is this in 虽然那件衬衫很好看，但是太贵了！
Although that shirt looks nice, it's too expensive!
I've noticed that based on feel, I will say 太貴了, but I don't actually know why.
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Why doesn't 真的, when used as an adverb, use 地？ [duplicate]
地 turns an adjective into an adverb: I run quickly = 我快地跑
的 turns an adjective into a noun-phrase: the quick one = 快的
(2) holds true for the adjective 真："哪张照片是真的?" = Which photo is the real ...
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How would you say "The mother wants her child to eat at home."?
I've come across: 妈妈要她的孩子在家吃饭。
However, this feels a little unnatural to me. I feel that "在家里吃饭“ or “吃饭在家” would be better. Firstly, am I correct that those word-orders would be more natural?
If ...
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What is the meaning of 都 in a structure of 连 什么 都 = 连 ... 都 = even ... sth？
I've quoted the following sentences from here.
这个 问题 太 简单 了 ，连 三岁 小孩 都 知道 。
This question is so easy that even a three-year-old kid knows the answer.
For me, I think that removing 都 from this ...
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Why use "為" instead of the verb "是" for the meaning "to be"?
In the definition for the term "琥珀" at https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=83080&q=1&word=%E7%90%A5%E7%8F%80, there's the text "為淡黃色、褐色或赤褐色的半透明固體". "為"...
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Is 的 used in Singlish?
In Singlish (Singaporean English creole), is 的 used? And if so, is it used for simple possession ("*Jenny de dog") or for introduction of a subordinate clause? ("*Jenny found last week ...
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How is this smodin.io AI-generated Chinese passage?
I generated this story using smodin.io (my input was the title):
我被友好的外星人绑架了。
有史以来最引人入胜的电影之一是 H.G. 威尔斯的《世界大战》。这部电影描绘了外星人入侵地球，人类使用大规模杀伤性武器反击外星人。在整部电影中，人类主角都在努力理解他受到外星人攻击的事实。他最终屈服于外星人的精神控制并被他们绑架。...
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What is the sentence structure when 有 is followed by a verb?
According to both the dictionary (Pleco) and the grammar rules (Chinese Grammar Wiki) it seems that 有 (or 没有) should typically be used in a combination 有 + object and expresses either possession or ...
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Is there a pattern for 沒 VS 沒有 as negative of 了?
I am already familiar with the use of 沒（有） as the negative of 了 in general. For example such as saying 一些衣服沒有乾 or 我沒有找到, 沒五點 etc. This question is just about why it's one or the other.
I have mostly ...
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What are the punctuation symbols in early magazines?
While browsing a number of old magazines, I noticed what I would refer to as punctuations appear way too often to fill the function it does today. I know punctuation has not always been a part of ...
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Is there a difference between "我明天要看电视“ and ”我要明天看电视“？
My instinct is that 我要明天看电视 is more likely to be understood as "I'm going to watch TV tomorrow", whereas 我明天要看电视 is more likely to be understood as "I want to watch TV tomorrow." ...
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Is 我喜欢吃的中国菜是…… grammatically correct?
I wonder if this sentence is correct, or if I need to add some other words: "我喜欢吃的中国菜是______ " If they are wrong, I would appreciate your explanation
My doubt is about the use of 的 and 是.
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Talking about habits and the present time using 会
So far I have learned that 会 is used in order to refer to the future, and thus it is somewhat similar to English "will", like in the sentence:
明天你会来吗？
Will you come tomorrow?
But, I have ...
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How to use 就像 when the subjects of the two clauses are different?
I'm wanting to say "I'm going to support you as though you were my friend" or "I'm going to support you like a friend", something to that effect. There's probably a more colloquial ...
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压力高低 vs. 压力大小: Why did a native speaker change 生活的压力很低 to 生活的压力小?
People practice writing Chinese at Reddit's r/WriteStreakCN, with one example here:
只要人们热爱他们的工作，生活的压力很低，可以享受人生。
A user, who I believe is a native-Chinese speaker, changed this to:
只要人们热爱他们的工作，...
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How can I parse 才一直追不上地球的运转?
I've been trying to translate the 2nd following sentence.
怕我会把航线图弄反
才一直追不上地球的运转
The google translate shows the following sentence translating it.
It has been unable to keep up with the rotation of ...
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How does 去 in 去做 work?
他完全有能力做好这件事,但他没有认真去做。
He was perfectly capable of doing it well, but he didn't take it seriously.(This English sentence was gained from google translate just pasting the above sentence on it.)
I've ...
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What's the difference between 出来/起来?
please tell me what is the difference between the 哭出来 / 哭起来 and with other actions (not Direction)
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How can I parse 自己做 inside 自己的事情自己做? Seems no passive voice is used in it
自己的事情自己做 (Do one's own things by oneself)
I've analyzed above Chinese sentence as follows using direct translation.
Oneself's matter must be done by oneself
But there seems no passive voice structure ...
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How should I interpret this 吧 in the sentence "好，那咱们一起去吧" ？
A：我们去吃午饭，你也一起去吗？
B：好，那咱们一起去吧。
I translated above sentences as follows using a dictionary and the text book which gave those sentences.
A: We are going to eat lunches, Do you also come together (with ...
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Parsing "的" as adjective suffix?
判断学校好坏的标准有很多，不过我认为老师的水平的最主要的。
I've interpreted above sentence as follows using ungrammatical English for reading Chinese with ease.
Judging a school's good points and bad points 's criteria there ...
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Usage of “了” in sentences where a period of time is involved
Consider the following sentences:
A. 我看了一个小时书 - I read a book for an hour
B. 我看一个小时书了 - ?
C. 我看了一个小时书了 - I have read a book for an hour and am still reading
D. 我看一个小时书 - ?
Question 1: is sentence B ...
Haziq Bin Yazid
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Is it more common to say 他写汉字写得好 Or 他的汉字写得好?
I wasn't able to find a similar question, its a bit pedantic but I would like to know if one is more common than the other in spoken or written language. According to my Chinese teacher, both are ...
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Why some words are not repeated fully?
I find very puzzling that some words lose its parts in the sentence. For instance，抽烟 loses the 烟 below:
原来我抽烟，现在不抽了
Originally I smoked, now I do not smoke.
In western languages it would be incorrect ...
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Is 她在2015年被选为《自然》杂志年度十大人物 grammatical (does it need a 之一)?
她在2015年被选为《自然》杂志年度十大人物，在2016年当选美国国家工程院院士，2017年获得世界杰出女科学家奖，同年升任斯坦福大学化学工程学院院长，成为斯坦福大学首个华人女院长。2021年，她当选美国文理科学院院士，也成为中国科学院外籍院士。
下一位获得诺贝尔奖的华人，可能是她？, October 2022.
The first clause of the above paragraph ...
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扣里：里 as verbal complement?
I've encountered the sentence 把准备好的葱姜蒜全扣里, in the context of having to tip some ingredients into a previously-mentioned pan.
I wonder if 里 is acting as an internal object of 扣 or as its locative ...
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Why native say 我说汉语说得很好 not 我很好地说汉语
I want to say: I speak very good Chinese. Can I also say 我很好地说汉语？
How to understand the differences in meaning?
Thank you.
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Is the S+V+了+O+了 structure only works for certain verbs?
Hi everyone… I’m back with another 了1 question. I am sorry if my questions sound dumb but I’m really confused.
This article said that 了1 can be placed at the end of sentence if the object of the ...
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What does combined 了 mean?
In this article, it is said that:
If there’s a verb 了 at the end of a sentence that also needs a sentence 了, the two 了s just combined into one.
They also provided some examples.
However, these ...
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Why did 总是 become 每天都 in this sentence?
I was trying to brush up my understanding of aspect particle 了 and came accross this website (I couldn’t find the link but the background was yellow) that said:
The negation of habitual action in the ...
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How does 含金量非常得高 work?
学历教育与非学历教育的区别是学历教育的社会认可度比较高，一般来说在学校进行的全日制的教育方式以及成人继续教育这种国家发放学历证书的就是学历教育，其毕业的时候所获得的毕业证书和学位证书在现在的社会上认可度更高，在放到什么地方都能适用的，这也是很多人在接受教育的时候愿意选择的教育方式，含金量非常得高。
学历教育与非学历教育的区别是什么, Beiwai Online, 2018.
The above-...
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Which makes more sense when calling myself a fool / foolish?
A girl that I like frequently calls me 笨蛋. I want to confess my feelings to her and wasn't sure if saying 我知道我很笨蛋。 or 我知道我是笨蛋。makes more sense gramatically.
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How should I parse 整个候选人赛14盘比赛?
In (international) chess news regarding next year's word championship:
整个候选人赛14盘比赛，丁立人低开高走，前8盘战绩仅为1负7和，后6盘则是4胜1和1负。
孙海光, 首获男子国象世界冠军战资格，丁立人有信心捅破“窗户纸”丨专访, September 2022.
It's referring to the ...
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Is it just me, or is 教……学习 in 爸爸正在教他的孩子学习游泳 weird?
This sentence is in a 看图写话 section of a HSK6 textbook (photo):
在游泳馆里，爸爸正在教他的孩子学习游泳。
郑丽杰, 刘悦, 21天政府HSK6级写作, p. 24.
I'm puzzled about how both 教 and 学习 both appear in the same sentence.
sb. 正在教 sb. ...
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How did I go in my mock HSK6 exam faulty wording section?
I took a mock HSK6 exam yesterday, which I recorded to see where I went wrong.
A 深秋的太平山，是人们攀登高山欣赏红叶的最佳时节。 [my answer]
B 车辆驶过整洁宽敞的大道，古朴的牌楼迎面映入眼帘。
C 网络空间急剧扩张，已经覆盖了人类社会生活的各个领域。
D 报告显示，去年中国游客量增幅超过50％，...
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Confusing 了1 and 了2
One of the functions of 了 is marking the completion of an action. (了1) Another function is marking a change of state. (了2) Personally it is sometimes difficult for me to distinguish between these two ...
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When does one use 同埋 and 然後 in Cantonese?
A long time ago, I asked a Hong Kong colleague how to order food by saying "and" or "and then". She taught me the structure is basically something like "我要薯條同埋一個漢堡包." But ...
user31212
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Difference between 有冇 and 咗 for past tense in Cantonese
I have finished my audio course on Cantonese and was confused about one grammar point. Sometimes people in the conversations, referring to the past tense, would say something like this for "Did ...
user31212
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"at this time" 这个时候 or 这时候 maybe 这段时间
I learnt that when I want to say "at this time" I should use 这时候。In a video, I saw 这个时候。 I learnt when I want to use a noun I should use 时间 and measure the word for time is 段。 I am confused ...
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Can 你去吧 be considered rude and what are some alternatives?
For example, if your classmate says he has to get home soon before it starts raining, and you want to support his decision, can you say “你去吧” ？In English one could say "Go, go!" But ...
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What do the ending sounds in Cantonese sentences mean or convey?
I think it's pretty well known that Cantonese has a lot of a's and la's attached to the end of sentences. However as a non-native, I have trouble understanding when these are used. For example, when ...
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What is the difference between 我 and 我们 as "we"?
几年后，赵奢去世了。这一年正好秦国军队来打赵国，赵国派老将廉颇带20万大军迎战。廉颇根据敌强我弱的形势，命令士兵们坚守阵地，绝对不可主动出战。
This is from the Standard Course Book of HSK5, section 15.
Baidu and Google say that here 我 means we and indeed according to ...
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What is the difference between 跟, 跟着 and 跟着着?
What is the difference between 跟着 and 跟? All dictionaries say that both can mean the verb "to follow".
If I want to use the 着 as a "particle indicating the continuation of an action or ...
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