Chinese Sentence Structure and Word Order IV
This grammar section is divided into a few sub-sections, and will be described through a few week activities:
SP1. Basic Pattern
SP2. Direct and Indirect Objects
SP3. Prepositional Phrases
SP4. Location and Time Phrases
SP5. Adverbs
SP6. Negation
SP7. Duration
SP8. Noun
SP9. Question
SP10. Particle
SP4 : Location and Time Phrases
- The location phrase is a type of preposition phrase. It always occurs before the verb phrase (as in preposition phrase).
Subject + Location Phrase + Verb PhraseExample:
1. I am reading at the library. wǒ zài tú shū guǎn kàn shū 。 我 在 图 书 馆 看 书 。 Subject Location Phrase Verb Phrase I at the library reading Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
2. I have my breakfast in the cafeteria at school. wǒ zài xué xiào shí táng chī zǎo cān 。 我 在 学 校 食 堂 吃 早 餐 。 Subject Location Phrase Verb Phrase I in the cafeteria at school have breakfast Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
- The time phrase (that indicates the ‘time when’ a situation takes place) always occurs before the verb phrase (as in preposition phrase).
Subject + Time Phrase + Verb Phrase
Example:1. I run to school every day. wǒ měi tiān pǎo bù qù xué xiào 。 我 每 天 跑 步 去 学 校 。 Subject Time Phrase Verb Phrase I every day run to school Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
2. I bought several books yesterday. wǒ zuó tiān mǎi le jǐ běn shū 。 我 昨 天 买 了 几 本 书 。 Subject Time Phrase Verb Phrase I yesterday bought several books Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
- However, the time phrase may also occur before the subject.
Time Phrase + Subject + Verb Phrase
Example:1. I run to school every day. měi tiān wǒ dōu pǎo bù qù xué xiào 。 每 天 我 都 跑 步 去 学 校 。 Time Phrase Subject Verb Phrase every day I run to school Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
2. I bought several books yesterday. zuó tiān wǒ mǎi le jǐ běn shū 。 昨 天 我 买 了 几 本 书 。 Time Phrase Subject Verb Phrase yesterday I bought several books Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
- Within the time phrase, the order of constituents is from the largest block of time to the smallest block of time.
Example:
1. November 14, 2009. èr líng líng jiǔ nián shí yī yuè shí sì hào 二 零 零 九 年 十 一 月 十 四 号 Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
2. 8 o’clock last night. zuó tiān wǎn shàng bā diǎn zhōng 昨 天 晚 上 八 点 钟 Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
- When a sentence includes both a time phrase and a location phrase, time phrase generally occurs before location phrase.
Subject + Time Phrase + Location Phrase + Verb Phrase
Example:1. I am reading at the library. wǒ měi tiān zài tú shū guǎn kàn shū 。 我 每 天 在 图 书 馆 看 书 。 Subject Time Phrase Location Phrase Verb Phrase I every day at the library reading Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
2. I have my breakfast in the cafeteria at school. wǒ měi tiān zài xué xiào shí táng chī zǎo cān 。 我 每 天 在 学 校 食 堂 吃 早 餐 。 Subject Time Phrase Location Phrase Verb Phrase I every day in the cafeteria at school have breakfast Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
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现在我在工作但我不忙 哈哈。 I am enjoying your blog!
[Reply]
Min Min Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Hi Joshua,
谢谢。你的中文很好。
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying my blog and learning Chinese.
Thanks.
[Reply]
Hello dear Min Min! I just wanted to thank you for the great and qualitative work you’ve done =)! This is really well done, and really nice to learn with =)! By the way, I wanted to know if the four tones are so important to pronounce! ‘Caus that’s the point that discourage me a little to learn chinese actually (even though it’s the only one, I think). ‘Caus in Korean and Japanese, they have no tones, and so they understand easily each other with the context, so that’s why I was really wondering whether it was the same thing in chinese or not! Thank you very much for your answer =)! Keep it up! (very) Friendly =) Koara ~ ~ (and oh, thanks a lot for having send me the link of your site on my livemocha page =). I also add your site on mine =). See ya! ) (I’d also like to apologize for my imperfect english just in case
! I’m a french native speaker.)
[Reply]
Min Min Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Hi Koara,
Yes. Tones are important to Chinese pronunciation and used to distinguish words with same Pinyin. If you want to learn to speak Chinese, you have to learn the 4 tones.
Check this out:
http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/2009/07/04/pinyin-tutorial-tones/
I am in the mid of preparing an Pinyin audio e-book. Register to my website so you will get updated.
Thanks for visiting and promoting my site.
[Reply]
Hello Min Min =)! Ok, thanks for your answer! I asked that, ‘caus I heard sometimes that when you speak fast, the tones disappear, so it meant that the people automatically understand each other with the context, therefore when those tones disappear, but they were maybe wrong to think that.. Friendly Koara ~ ~
[Reply]
Min Min Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 1:13 am
Hi Koara,
You are welcome.
[Reply]