Chinese Grammar

from Chinese language learning memo Chinese Grammar

Homework:

• Drill 2 until 5/17
• Review print 2 until Sunday

Chapter 3

• ”$ X (specific) exists in Y = X在Y / Y有X”

• ”$ X (non-specific) exists in Y = Y有X (❌ X在Y)”

  • Counting things like “two pens” is also non-specific
  • It seems that you can’t assign ambiguous things to the left side, like in an equation (blu3mo)

• ”$ in here/there/where = X这儿zhèr,这里zhèli/那儿nàr,那里nàli/哪儿nǎr,哪里nǎli”

  • 里 is a directional word

• ”$ in S’s place = S X这儿zhèr,那儿nàr”

  • Like “in my place,” “in your place,” etc.

• When combined,

  • ”$ The book exists in my place = 书在我这儿”

• ”$ What about …?, Where is …?, etc = 呢ne”

• ”$ {S doing V} is X = V的S是X”

• Compound sentences

  • Two dependent actions are combined directly
  • When one action is done in order to do another
  • ”$ S do V1 to V2 = S V1 V2”
    • ”$ S go library to read book = S 去图书馆 看书”

• Position of time words

  • ”$ today I do V = 今天我V / 我今天V”

Chapter 2

• Try writing in the textbook

• Interrogative sentences

  • Interrogative words
    • ”$ who = 谁shei2”
    • ”$ what = 什么shen2me1”
    • ”$ how much = 几jǐ”
      • Like 几米jimi (m), asking with a unit
  • Can be understood as “is” or “equals”
    • By connecting the interrogative word with “is” like a variable, you can ask a question
    • For example, for “Whose book is this?”, you can think of it as the equation “This = {Whose} book” and solve for {Whose}
  • But, do not use 吗 in this case!

• Conjunctions

  • ”$ and = 和hé”
    • ”$ X, Y, and Z = X、Y和Z”
    • Note: In Chinese, ”、” and ”,” are distinguished
      • Only use ”、” when listing items in parallel, otherwise use ”,”

• Numbers

  • 2 has exceptions
    • I remember something like that (blu3mo)(blu3mo)
    • ”$ two (how many, for counting objects) = 两”
      • (Also used for time, like 2 hours = 2 units of time)
    • ”$ two (which number, for ordinal numbers) = 二”

• Time

  • ”$ 15 minutes = 刻分kè fēn”
  • ”$ 30 minutes = 半分bàn fēn”
  • ”$ 45 minutes = 三刻分sān kè fēn”
  • The format is “h:mm”
    • ”$ 2:03; 两点零三（not 两点三）”

• Dates

  • ”$ Jan 1st; 一月一号”

Chapter 1

• Chinese personal pronouns
  • ”$ me: 我 wo3”
    • ”$ we: 我们 wo3 men”
    • ”$ we (including you): 咱们 zan2 men”
      • Like “let us XX” (blu3mo)
  • you: 你 ni3
    • ”$ you (plural): 你们 ni3 men”
    • ”$ you (polite): 您 nin2”
      • However, it’s not necessarily rude to not use nin with important people (blu3mo)
  • ”$ he/she/it: 他/她/它 ta1”
  • ”$ they: 他们 ta2 men”
• Demonstratives
  • ”$ this: 这个 zhe4 ge / zhei4 ge”
    • The latter pronunciation is more common (blu3mo)
    • ”$ this is: 这 是 zhe4 shi4”
      • (When 是 is used, 个 is omitted)
  • ”$ that: 那个 na4 ge / nei4 ge”
    • ”$ that is: 那 是 na4 shi4”
      • (When 是 is used, 个 is omitted)
  • ”$ that?: 哪个 na3 ge”
  • X是这 is like X equals this, X equals 这

Sentence patterns

• ”$ S is C: S是C / S shi4 C”

  • ”$ S is not C: S不是C / S bu2 shi4 C”
  • ”$ S is also C: S也是C / S ye3 shi4 C”

• S V O: S V O

  • I can write “I am surnamed X” as “我姓X”
    • It’s not obvious that “姓” is a verb, not a noun (blu3mo)

• ”$ ~ ?: ~ 吗 (ma3)”

  • Only for yes or no questions
  • The response

• When you don’t know the location

  • ”$ S’s C: S的C”
    • my/his/her/our C: 我/他/她/我们 C
      • When it’s “my family/affiliation,” omit 的! (blu3mo)
  • Names
    • For names with one character, make it two syllables by adding “小X”
      • Make it two syllables for easier listening comprehension- The term “province people” is popular, similar to “Cantonese” and “Shanghainese”.

• Vocabulary

  • 是 (shì): yes
  • 不是 (bù shì): no
  • 数 (shù): numbers
    • 一 (yī), 二 (èr), 三 (sān), 四 (sì), 五 (wǔ), 六 (liù), 七 (qī), 八 (bā), 九 (jiǔ)

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from Frog Life Basic Sentence Structure: Subject + Predicate

• Verb Predicate Sentence: Noun + Verb
• Adjective Predicate Sentence: Noun + Adjective
• Noun Predicate Sentence: Noun + Noun
• Subject-Predicate Sentence: Noun + (Subject + Predicate)

When calling someone:

• wo/ni/ta
• When it’s a group of mixed genders, the “ta” for “tamen” is different (not the female version).

Honorifics for names:

• Older: “lǎo” + name

• Younger: “xiǎo” + name

• Two-syllable names sound better than one-syllable names (?)

  • For one-syllable names, “xiǎo” is added in front
  • For small children, the first character of the name is repeated (like “Lanlan”)

• In social situations, use “先生” (for men), “女士” (for women), and “小姐” (for young women)

  • If you know their title, use their last name + title (e.g., X + “lǎoshī”)

Nouns: General / Time / Place / Direction Verbs: Verbs that can take an object and those that cannot

• Whether a word representing the object comes after the verb or not (Example of coming after: “吃” + object to eat)
  • Other examples of taking an object: “来” (lái), “去” (qù), etc.