Thegrammar ofStandard Chinese shares many features with othervarieties of Chinese. The language almost entirely lacksinflection; words typically have only one grammatical form. Categories such asnumber (singular or plural) and verbtense are often not expressed by grammatical means, but there are severalparticles that serve to express verbalaspect and, to some extent,mood.

The basic word order issubject–verb–object (SVO), as in English. Otherwise, Chinese is chiefly ahead-final language, meaning that modifiers precede the words that they modify. In anoun phrase, for example, thehead noun comes last, and all modifiers, includingrelative clauses, come in front of it. This phenomenon, however, is more typically found insubject–object–verb languages, such asTurkish andJapanese.

Chinese frequently usesserial verb constructions, which involve two or more verbs orverb phrases in sequence. Chineseprepositions behave similarly to serialized verbs in some respects,^[a] and they are often referred to ascoverbs. There are also location markers, which are placed after nouns and are thus often calledpostpositions; they are often used in combination with coverbs.Predicate adjectives are normally used without acopular verb ("to be") and so can be regarded as a type of verb.

As in many otherEast Asian languages,classifiers (or measure words) are required whennumerals (and sometimes other words, such asdemonstratives) are used with nouns. There are many different classifiers in the language, and each countable noun generally has a particular classifier associated with it. Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general classifiergè (个;個) in place of other specific classifiers.

In Chinese, the difference betweenwords andChinese characters is often not clear,^[b] this is one of the reasons the Chinese script does not use spaces to separate words. A string of characters can be translated as a single English word, but these characters have some kind of independence. For example,tiàowǔ (跳舞; 'jump-dance'), meaning 'to dance', can be used as a singleintransitive verb, or may be regarded as comprising two single lexical words. However, it does in fact function as a compound of the verbtiào (跳; 'to jump') and the objectwǔ (舞; 'a dance').^[1] Additionally, thepresent progressive aspect markerzhe (着) can be inserted between these two parts to formtiàozhewǔ (跳着舞; 'to be dancing').

Chinesemorphemes (the smallest units of meaning) are mostly monosyllabic. In most cases, morphemes are represented by single characters. However, two or more monosyllabic morphemes can be translated as a single English word. These monosyllabic morphemes can be either free or bound – that is, in particular usage, they may or may not be able to stand independently. Most two-syllable compoundnouns often have thehead on the right (e.g.蛋糕;dàngāo; 'egg-cake' means "cake"), while compound verbs often have the head on the left (e.g.辩论;biànlùn; 'debate-discuss' means "debate").^[2]

Some Chinesemorphemes are polysyllabic; for example, theloanwordsshāfā (沙发;沙發; 'sofa') is the compound ofshā (沙; 'sand') andfā (发;發; 'to send', 'to issue'), but this compound is actually simply atransliteration of "sofa". Many native disyllabic morphemes, such aszhīzhū (蜘蛛; 'spider'), have consonantalliteration.^{[citation needed]}

Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the same meaning, such asdàsuàn (大蒜; 'big-garlic') forsuàn (蒜; 'garlic'). Many disyllabic nouns are produced by adding the suffixzi (子; 'child') to a monosyllabic word or morpheme. There is a strong tendency for monosyllables to be avoided in certain positions; for example, a disyllabic verb will not normally be followed by a monosyllabic object. This may be connected with the preferredmetrical structure of the language.

Reduplication (i.e. the repetition of a syllable or word stem) is common in modern Chinese.

• Family members: ex.mā-ma (妈妈;媽媽, "mother");dì-di (弟弟, "younger brother");mèi-mei(妹妹, "younger sister")

• Fixed expression: In modern Chinese, some nouns are necessarily replicated, but theirmorphemes inClassical Chinese are often directly used without any replication. ex.xīng-xīng (星星, "star"), fromxīng (星, "star"). The Classical Chinese expressions often become modernChengyu, such aspī-xīng-dài-yuè (披星戴月, literally "wearing stars like a coat and wearing moon like a hat", means "working day and night"^[3])

• Diminutive or childish expression: treating the noun as cute or endearing; often used with animals. ex.gǒu-gǒu (狗狗, "puppy/doggy"), fromgǒu (狗, "dog");Māo-māo (貓貓, "kitty"), fromMāo (貓, "cat").

(1) AA or AABB reduplication: to emphasize the state described by the adjective/adverb;^[4] can also make the expression childish.

cháng-cháng(常常, "often"), fromcháng (常, "constant, constantly");

hóng-hóng-de (红红的;紅紅的 "red"), fromhóng (红;紅, "red");

ex.手心看起来红红的;手心看起來紅紅的(Shǒuxīn kàn qǐláihóng-hóng-de, "palm looksred")

gāo-gāo-xìng-xìng-de (高高兴兴地;高高興興地 "very happily"), fromgāo-xìng (高兴;高興, "happy, happiness");

ex.高高兴兴地吃;高高興興地吃 (Gāo-gāo-xìng-xìng-de chī, "eathappily")

bīng-bīng-liáng-liáng-de (冰冰凉凉的, "ice-cool" ), frombīng-liáng (冰凉, "ice-cool");

ex.冰冰凉凉的饮料;冰冰涼涼的飲料 (Bīng-bīng-liáng-liáng de yǐnliào, "ice-cold drink")

(2) ABB reduplication: to emphasize the state described by the adjective/adverb.

xiāng-pēn-pēn (香喷喷;香噴噴, literally" good smell spray out", means "smell very good"), fromxiāng (香, "good smell/aromatic") andpēn (喷;噴, "spray")

liàng-jīng-jīng (亮晶晶, "shining, bright and clear"), fromliàng (亮, "bright") andjīng (晶, "shining")

(1) To mark thedelimitative aspect (i.e. do something for a while) or for general emphasis – see the§ Aspects section:

xiě-xiě-zuòyè (写写作业;寫寫作業 "do homework / do homework for a while"), from the verbxiě (写;寫 "write") and the nounzuò-yè (作业;作業 "homework")

(1) means "every":

Nǐmenyī gè gè dōu zhǎng dé yī fù cōng-míng xiāng (你們一個個都長得一副聰明相, "Youall look smart", fromCrystal Boys), where ordinarilygè (个;個) is the general classifier. Literally, the phrase一個個;yī gè gè means "every", and the character都;dōu means "all".

(2) means "many":

Yī-zuò-zuò qīng-shān (一座座青山, "many green hills"), where ordinarilyzuò (座) is a proper classifier forshān (山, "hill").

• 可(kě) — "-able"
  • 可(kě)靠(kào) — "reliable"
  • 可(kě)敬(jìng) — "respectable"
• 反(fǎn) — "anti-"
  • 反(fǎn)恐(kǒng) [反恐] — "anti-terror"
  • 反(fǎn)教权的(jiàoquánde) [反教權的] — "anti-clerical"
  • 反(fǎn)法西斯(fàxīsī) [反法西斯] — "anti-fascist"

• 化(huà) — "-ize" — used to form verbs from nouns or adjectives
  • 国际(guójì)化(huà) [國際化] — "internationalize", from国际(guójì) ("international")
  • 恶(è)化(huà) [惡化] — "worsen", from恶(è) ("bad")
• 性(xìng) — "-ness" — for attributes
  • 安全(ānquán)性(xìng) — "safety", from安全(ānquán) ("safe")
  • 有效(yǒuxiào)性(xìng) — "effectiveness", from有效(yǒuxiào) ("effective")

• 得(de) — "can" and不(bu) — "cannot"
  • 听得懂(tīngdedǒng) — "can understand", from听懂(tīngdǒng) ("understand")
  • 听不懂(tīngbudǒng) — "cannot understand"

Chinese, like Spanish or English, is classified as anSVO (subject–verb–object) language. Transitive verbs precede theirobjects in typical simple clauses, while thesubject precedes the verb. For example:^[5]

Chinese can also be considered atopic-prominent language:^[6] there is a strong preference for sentences that begin with thetopic, usually "given" or "old" information, and end with thecomment, or "new" information. Certain modifications of the basic subject–verb–object order are permissible and may serve to achieve topic-prominence. In particular, a direct or indirect object may be moved to the start of the clause to createtopicalization. It is also possible for an object to be moved to a position in front of the verb for emphasis.^[7]

Another type of sentence is what has been called anergative structure,^[8] where the apparent subject of the verb can move to object position; the empty subject position is then often occupied by anexpression of location. Comparelocative inversion in English. This structure is typical of the verbyǒu (有, "there is/are"; in other contexts the same verb means "have"), but it can also be used with many other verbs, generally denoting position, appearance or disappearance. An example:

Chinese is also to some degree apro-drop ornull-subject language, meaning that the subject can be omitted from a clause if it can be inferred from the context.^[9] In the following example, the subject of the verbs for "hike" and "camp" is left to be inferred—it may be "we", "I", "you", "she", etc.

In the next example the subject is omitted and the object is topicalized by being moved into subject position, to form apassive-type sentence. For passive sentences with a marker such as被;bèi, see thepassive section.

Adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify the verb typically come after the subject but before the verb, although other positions are sometimes possible; seeAdverbs and adverbials. For constructions that involve more than one verb or verb phrase in sequence, seeSerial verb constructions. For sentences consisting of more than oneclause, seeConjunctions.

Some verbs can take both anindirect object and adirect object. Indirect normally precedes direct, as in English:

With many verbs, however, the indirect object may alternatively be preceded byprepositionalgěi (给;給); in that case it may either precede or follow the direct object. (Compare the similar use ofto orfor in English.)

To emphasize the direct object, it can be combined with theaccusative markerbǎ (把, literally "hold") to form a "bǎ + direct object" phrase.^[10] This phrase is placed before the verb. For example:

Other markers can be used in a similar way asbǎ, such as the formaljiāng (将;將, literally "lead") :

and colloquialná (拿, literally "get")

To explain this kind of usage, some linguists assume that some verbs can take two direct objects, called the called "inner" and "outer" object.^[11] Typically, the outer object will be placed at the start of the sentence (which is the topic) or introduced via thebǎ phrase. For example:

Thehead noun of a noun phrase comes at the end of the phrase; this means that everything that modifies the noun comes before it. This includes attributiveadjectives,determiners,quantifiers,possessives, andrelative clauses.

Chinese does not havearticles as such; a noun may stand alone to represent what in English would be expressed as "the ..." or "a[n] ...". However the wordyī (一, "one"), followed by the appropriate classifier, may be used in some cases where English would have "a" or "an". It is also possible, with many classifiers, to omit theyī and leave the classifier on its own at the start of the noun phrase.

Thedemonstratives arezhè (这;這, "this"), andnà (那, "that"). When used before a noun, these are often followed by an appropriate classifier (for discussion of classifiers, seeClassifiers below and the articleChinese classifiers). However this use of classifiers is optional.^[12] When a noun is preceded by anumeral (or a demonstrative followed by a numeral), the use of a classifier or measure word is in most cases considered mandatory. (This does not apply to nouns that function as measure words themselves; this includes many units of measurement and currency.)

The plural markerxiē (些, "some, several"; also used to pluralize demonstratives) is used without a classifier. Howeverjǐ (几;幾, "some, several, how many") takes a classifier.^[13]

For adjectives in noun phrases, see theAdjectives section. For noun phrases with pronouns rather than nouns as the head, see thePronouns section.

Possessives are formed by addingde (的)—the same particle that is used after relative clauses and sometimes after adjectives—after the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that denotes the possessor.

Chineserelative clauses, like other noun modifiers, precede the noun they modify. Like possessives and some adjectives, they are marked with the final particlede (的). Afree relative clause is produced if the modified noun following thede is omitted. A relative clause usually comes after any determiner phrase, such as a numeral and classifier. For emphasis, it may come before the determiner phrase.^[14]

There is usually norelative pronoun in the relative clause. Instead, a gap is left in subject or object position as appropriate. If there are two gaps—the additional gap being created bypro-dropping—ambiguity may arise. For example,chī de (吃的) may mean "[those] who eat" or "[that] which is eaten". When used alone, it usually means "things to eat".

If the relative item is governed by a preposition in the relative clause, then it is denoted by a pronoun, e.g.tì tā (替他, "for him"), to explain "for whom". Otherwise the whole prepositional phrase is omitted, the preposition then being implicitly understood.

For example sentences, seeRelative clause → Mandarin.

Some English words are paired with specific nouns to indicate their counting units. For example,Bottle in "two bottles of wine" andsheet in "three sheets of paper". Most English nouns can be counted directly without specifying units, while most Chinese nounsmust be associated with a specificclassifier, namelyliàng-cí (量词;量詞, "measure words"), to represent theircounting units.^[15] Every Chinese noun can only be associated with alimited number of classifiers. For example

píng (瓶, "bottle") andbēi (杯, "cup") are both proper classifiers of the countable nounjiǔ (酒), whileliǎngzuò jiǔ (两座酒) andliǎng-jiǔ (两酒) areunacceptable.

While there are dozens of classifiers, the general classifiergè (个;個) is colloquially (i.e. in informal conversations) acceptable for most nouns. However, there are still some exceptions. For example,liǎnggè jiǔ (两个酒) is unacceptable.

Most classifiers originated as independent words inClassical Chinese, so they are generally associated with certain groups of nouns with common properties related to their own classical meaning, for example:^[3]

Therefore,collocation of classifiers and noun sometimes depends on how native speakers realize them. For example, the nounzhuōzi (桌子, "table") is associated with the classifierzhāng (张;張), due to the sheet-like table-top. Additionally,yǐ-zi (椅子, "chair") is associated withbǎ (把, "hold"), because a chair can be moved by holding its top like a handle. Furthermore, due to the invention of the folding chair,yǐ-zi (椅子, "chair") is also associated with the classifierzhāng (张;張) to express a folding chair can be "extended" (unfolded).

Classifiers are also used optionally afterdemonstratives, and in certain other situations. See theNoun phrases section, and the articleChinese classifier.

The Chinesepersonal pronouns arewǒ (我, "I, me"),nǐ (你;你/妳,^[d] "you"), andtā (他/她/它, "he/him, she/her, it (inanimate objects)". Plurals are formed by addingmen (们;們):wǒmen (我们;我們, "we, us"),nǐmen (你们;你們, "you"),tāmen (他们/她们/它们;他們/她們/它們, "they/them"). There is alsonín (您), a formal, polite word for singular "you", as well as a less common plural form,nínmen (您们). Some northern dialects have a third-person formal, polite word怹 (他+心, he/him + heart) similar to您 (你+心, you + heart).^[16] The alternativeinclusive word for "we/us"—zán (咱) orzá[n]men (咱们;咱們), specifically including the listener^[17] —is used colloquially. The third-person pronouns are not often used for inanimates, withdemonstratives used instead.

Possessives are formed withde (的), such aswǒde (我的, "my, mine"),wǒmende (我们的;我們的, "our[s]"), etc. Thede may be omitted in phrases denotinginalienable possession, such aswǒ māma (我妈妈;我媽媽, "my mom").

Thedemonstrative pronouns arezhè (这;這, "this", colloquially pronouncedzhèi as a shorthand for这一;這一^[18]) andnà (那, "that", colloquially pronouncednèi as a shorthand for那一^[19]). They are optionally pluralized by the addition of plural quantifiersxiē (些) orqún (群). There is areflexive pronounzìjǐ (自己) meaning "oneself, myself, etc.", which can stand alone as an object or a possessive, or may follow a personal pronoun for emphasis. Thereciprocal pronoun "each other" can be translated frombǐcǐ (彼此), usually in adverb position. An alternative ishùxiāng (互相, "mutually").

Adjectives can be used attributively, before a noun. The relative markerde (的)^[e] may be added after the adjective, but this is not always required; "black horse" may be eitherhēi mǎ (黑马;黑馬) orhēi de mǎ (黑的马;黑的馬). When multiple adjectives are used, the order "quality/size – shape – color" is followed, although this is not necessary when each adjective is made into a separate phrase with the addition ofde.^[20]

Gradable adjectives can be modified by words meaning "very", etc.; such modifying adverbs normally precede the adjective, although some, such asjíle (极了;極了, "extremely"), come after it.

When adjectives co-occur with classifiers, they normally follow the classifier. However, with most common classifiers, when the number is "one", it is also possible to place adjectives like "big" and "small" before the classifier for emphasis.

Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they behave more like verbs; there is no need for acopular verb in sentences like "he is happy" in Chinese; one may say simplytā gāoxìng (他高兴;他高興, "he happy"), where the adjective may be interpreted as a verb meaning "is happy". In such sentences it is common for the adjective to be modified by a word meaning "very" or the like; in fact the wordhěn (很, "very") is often used in such cases with gradable adjectives, even without carrying the meaning of "very".

It is nonetheless possible for a copula to be used in such sentences, to emphasize the adjective. In the phrasetā shì gāoxìng le, (他是高兴了;他是高興了, "he is now truly happy"),shì is the copula meaning "is", andle is the inceptive marker discussed later.^[21] This is similar to thecleft sentence construction. Sentences can also be formed in which an adjective followed byde (的) stands as the complement of the copula.

Adverbs and adverbial phrases normally come in a position before the verb, but after the subject of the verb. In sentences with auxiliary verbs, the adverb usually precedes the auxiliary verb as well as the main verb. Some adverbs of time and attitude ("every day", "perhaps", etc.) may be moved to the start of the clause, to modify the clause as a whole. However, some adverbs cannot be moved in this way. These include three words for "often",cháng (常),chángcháng (常常) andjīngcháng (经常;經常);dōu (都, "all");jiù (就, "then"); andyòu (又, "again").^[22]

Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives using the cliticde (地).^[f] It is generally possible to move these adverbs to the start of the clause, although in some cases this may sound awkward, unless there is a qualifier such ashěn (很, "very") and a pause after the adverb.

Some verbs take a prepositional phrase following the verb and its direct object. These are generally obligatory constituents, such that the sentence would not make sense if they were omitted. For example:

There are also certain adverbial "stative complements" which follow the verb. The characterde (得)^[g] followed by an adjective functions the same as the phrase "-ly" in English, turning the adjective into an adverb. The second ishǎo le (好了, "complete"). It is not generally possible for a single verb to be followed by both an object and an adverbial complement of this type, although there are exceptions in cases where the complement expresses duration, frequency or goal.^[24] To express both, the verb may be repeated in a special kind ofserial verb construction; the first instance taking an object, the second taking the complement. Aspect markers can then appear only on the second instance of the verb.

The typical Chinese word order "XVO", where an oblique complement such as a locative prepositional phrase precedes the verb, while a direct object comes after the verb, is very rare cross-linguistically; in fact, it is only in varieties of Chinese that this is attested as the typical ordering.^[25]

Expressions of location in Chinese may include apreposition, placed before the noun; a postposition, placed after the noun; both preposition and postposition; or neither. Chinese prepositions are commonly known ascoverbs – see theCoverbs section. The postpositions—which includeshàng (上, "up, on"),xià (下, "down, under"),lǐ (里;裡, "in, within"),nèi (内, "inside") andwài (外, "outside")—may also be calledlocative particles.^[26]

In the following examples locative phrases are formed from a noun plus a locative particle:

The most common preposition of location iszài (在, "at, on, in"). With certain nouns that inherently denote a specific location, including nearly all place names, a locative phrase can be formed withzài together with the noun:

However other types of nouns still require a locative particle as a postposition in addition tozài:

If a noun is modified so as to denote aspecific location, as in "this [object]...", then it may form locative phrases without any locative particle. Some nouns which can be understood to refer to a specific place, likejiā (家, home) andxuéxiào (学校;學校, "school"), may optionally omit the locative particle. Words likeshàngmiàn (上面, "top") can function as specific-location nouns, like inzài shàngmiàn (在上面, "on top"), but can also take the role of locative particle, not necessarily with analogous meaning. The phrasezài bàozhǐ shàngmiàn (在报纸上面;在報紙上面; 'in newspaper-top'), can mean either "in the newspaper" or "on the newspaper".^[27]

In certain circumstanceszài can be omitted from the locative expression. Grammatically, a noun or noun phrase followed by a locative particle is still a noun phrase. For instance,zhuōzi shàng can be regarded as short forzhuōzi shàngmiàn, meaning something like "the table's top". Consequently, the locative expression withoutzài can be used in places where a noun phrase would be expected – for instance, as a modifier of another noun usingde (的), or as the object of a different preposition, such ascóng (从;從, "from"). The version withzài, on the other hand, plays an adverbial role. However,zài is usually omitted when the locative expression begins a sentence with the ergative structure, where the expression, though having an adverbial function, can be seen as filling thesubject or noun role in the sentence. For examples, seesentence structure section.

The wordzài (在), like certain other prepositions or coverbs, can also be used as a verb. A locative expression can therefore appear as apredicate without the need for any additionalcopula. For example, "he is at school" (他在学校;他在學校;tā zài xuéxiào, literally "he at school").

Comparative sentences are commonly expressed simply by inserting the standard of comparison, preceded bybǐ (比, "than"). The adjective itself is not modified. Thebǐ (比, "than") phrase is an adverbial, and has a fixed position before the verb. See also the section onnegation.

If there is no standard of comparison—i.e., athan phrase—then the adjective can be marked as comparative by a preceding adverbbǐjiào (比较;比較),jiào (较;較) orgèng (更), all meaning "more". Similarly,superlatives can be expressed using the adverbzuì (最, "most"), which precedes a predicate verb or adjective.

Adverbial phrases meaning "like [someone/something]" or "as [someone/something]" can be formed usinggēn (跟),tóng (同) orxiàng (像) before the noun phrase, andyīyàng (一样;一樣) ornàyàng (那样;那樣) after it.^[28]

The constructionyuè ... yuè ...越...越... can be translated into statements of the type "the more ..., the more ...".

The Chinesecopular verb isshì (是). This is the equivalent of English "to be" and all its forms—"am", "is", "are", "was", "were", etc. However,shì is normally only used when its complement is a noun or noun phrase. As noted above, predicate adjectives function as verbs themselves, as does the locative prepositionzài (在), so in sentences where the predicate is an adjectival or locative phrase,shì is not required.

For another use ofshì, seeshì ... [de] construction in the section oncleft sentences. The Englishexistential phrase "there is" ["there are", etc.] is translated using the verbyǒu (有), which is otherwise used to denotepossession.

Chinese does not have grammatical markers oftense. The time at which action is conceived as taking place—past, present, future—can be indicated by expressions of time—"yesterday", "now", etc.—or may simply be inferred from the context. However, Chinese does have markers ofaspect, which is a feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of events. There are two aspect markers that are especially commonly used with past events: theperfective-aspectle (了) and theexperientialguo (过;過). Some authors, however, do not regardguo (orzhe; see below) as markers of aspect.^[29] Bothle andguo immediately follow the verb.

There is also a sentence-finalinchoativele (了), which is an aspect-marking particle that indicates a change in state. Following a convention used by some textbooks, it is listed with themodal particles below, even though it does not indicate agrammatical mood.

The perfectivele presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety".^[30] It is sometimes considered to be a past tense marker, although it can also be used with future events, given appropriate context. Some examples of its use:

Usingle (了) shows this event that has taken place or took place at a particular time.

This format ofle (了) is usually used in a time-delimited context such as "today" or "last week".

The above may be compared with the following examples withguo, and with the examples with sentence-finalle given underParticles.

The experientialguo "ascribes to a subject the property of having experienced the event".^[31]

This also implies that the speaker no longer is a soldier.

There are also twoimperfective aspect markers:zhèngzài (正在) orzài (在), andzhe (着;著), which denote ongoing actions or states.Zhèngzài andzài precede the verb, and are usually used for ongoing actions or dynamic events – they may be translated as "[be] in the process of [-ing]" or "[be] in the middle of [-ing]".Zhe follows the verb, and is used mostly for static situations.

Both markers may occur in the same clause, however. For example,tā zhèngzai dǎ [zhe] diànhuà, "he is in the middle of telephoning someone" (他正在打[着]电话;他正在打[著]電話; 'he &#91', 'in-middle-of&#93', '&#91', 'verb form&#93', '&#91', 'ongoing&#93', 'telephone').[32]

Thedelimitative aspect denotes an action that goes on only for some time, "doing something 'a little bit'".^[33] This can be expressed byreduplication of a monosyllabic verb, like the verbzǒu (走 "walk") in the following sentence:

An alternative construction is reduplication with insertion of "one" (一yī). For example,zǒu yi zǒu (走一走), which might be translated as "walk a little walk". A further possibility is reduplication followed bykàn (看 "to see"); this emphasizes the "testing" nature of the action. If the verb has an object,kàn follows the object.

Some compound verbs, such as restrictive-resultative and coordinate compounds, can also be reduplicated on the patterntǎolùn-tǎolùn (讨论讨论;討論討論), from the verbtǎolùn (讨论;討論), meaning "discuss". Other compounds may be reduplicated, but for general emphasis rather than delimitative aspect. In compounds that areverb–object combinations, liketiào wǔ (跳舞; 'to jump a dance', "dance"), a delimitative aspect can be marked by reduplicating the first syllable, creatingtiào-tiào wǔ (跳跳舞), which may be followed withkàn (看).

As mentionedabove, the fact that a verb is intended to be understood in thepassive voice is not always marked in Chinese. However, it may be marked using the passive marker 被bèi, followed by the agent, thoughbèi may appear alone if the agent is not to be specified.^[h] Certain causative markers can replacebèi, such as those mentioned in theOther cases section,gěi,jiào andràng. Of these causative markers, onlygěi can appear alone without a specified agent. The construction with a passive marker is normally used only when there is a sense of misfortune or adversity.^[34] The passive marker and agent occupy the typical adverbial position before the verb. See theNegation section for more. Some examples:

The most commonly usednegating element isbù (不),pronounced with second tone when followed by a fourth tone. This can be placed before a verb, preposition or adverb to negate it. For example: "I don't eat chicken" (我不吃鸡;我不吃雞;wǒ bù chī jī; 'I not eat chicken'). For the double-verb negative construction withbù, seeComplement of result, below. However, the verbyǒu (有)—which can mean eitherpossession, or "there is/are" inexistential clauses—is negated usingméi (没;沒) to produceméiyǒu (没有;沒有; 'not have').

For negation of a verb intended to denote a completed event,méi orméiyǒu is used instead ofbù (不), and theaspect markerle (了) is then omitted. Also,méi[yǒu] is used to negate verbs that take the aspect markerguo (过;過); in this case the aspect marker is not omitted.^[35]

Incoverb constructions, the negator may come before the coverb (preposition) or before the full verb, the latter being more emphatic. In constructions with apassive marker, the negator precedes that marker; similarly, incomparative constructions,the negator precedes thebǐ phrase^{Not clear} (unless the verb is further qualified bygèng (更, "even more"), in which case the negator may follow thegèng to produce the meaning "even less").^[36]

The negatorbié (别) precedes the verb in negative commands and negative requests, such as in phrases meaning "don't ...", "please don't ...".

The negatorwèi (未) means "not yet". Other items used as negating elements in certain compound words includewú (无;無),wù (勿),miǎn (免) andfēi (非).

Adouble negative makes a positive, as in sentences likewǒ bú shì bù xǐhuān tā (我不是不喜欢她;我不是不喜歡她, "It's not that I don't like her" ). For this use ofshì (是), see theCleft sentences section.

Inwh-questions in Chinese, the question word is notfronted. Instead, it stays in the position in the sentence that would be occupied by the item being asked about. For example, "What did you say?" is phrased asnǐ shuō shé[n]me (你说什么?;你說什麼？, literally "you say what"). The wordshénme (什么;什麼, "what" or "which"), remains in theobject position after the verb.

Other interrogative words include:

• "Who":shuí/shéi (谁;誰)
• "What":shénme (什么;什麼);shá (啥, informal)
• "Where":nǎr (哪儿;哪兒);nǎlǐ (哪里;哪裡);héchù (何处;何處)
• "When":shénme shíhòu (什么时候;什麼時候);héshí (何时;何時)
• "Which":nǎ (哪)
  • When used to mean "which ones",nǎ is used with a classifier and noun, or withxiē (些) and noun. The noun may be omitted if understood through context.
• "Why":wèishé[n]me (为什么;為什麼);wèihé (为何;為何);gànmá (干吗;幹嘛)
• "How many":duōshǎo (多少)
  • When the number is quite small,jǐ (几;幾) is used, followed by a classifier.
• "How":zěnme[yang] (怎么[样];怎麼[樣]);rúhé (如何)

Disjunctive questions can be made using the wordháishì (还是;還是) between the options, like English "or". This differs from the word for "or" in statements, which ishuòzhě (或者).

Yes–no questions can be formed using the sentence-finalparticlema (吗;嗎), with word order otherwise the same as in a statement. For example,nǐ chī jī ma? (你吃鸡吗?;你吃雞嗎？; 'you eat chicken MA', "Do you eat chicken?").

An alternative is theA-not-A construction, using phrases likechī bu chī (吃不吃, "eat or not eat").^[i] With two-syllable verbs, sometimes only the first syllable is repeated:xǐ-bu-xǐhuān (喜不喜欢;喜不喜歡, "like or not like"), fromxǐhuān (喜欢;喜歡, "like"). It is also possible to use the A-not-A construction with prepositions (coverbs) and phrases headed by them, as with full verbs.

The negatorméi (没;沒) can be used rather thanbù in the A-not-A construction when referring to a completed event, but if it occurs at the end of the sentence—i.e. the repetition is omitted—the full formméiyǒu (没有;沒有) must appear.^[37]

For answering yes–no questions, Chinese has words that may be used like the English"yes" and "no" –duì (对;對) orshì de (是的) for "yes";bù (不) for "no" – but these are not often used for this purpose; it is more common to repeat the verb or verb phrase (or entire sentence), negating it if applicable.

Second-personimperative sentences are formed in the same way as statements, and like in English, the subject "you" is often omitted.

Orders may be softened by preceding them with an element such asqǐng (请, "to ask"), in this use equivalent to English "please". SeeParticles for more. The sentence-final particleba (吧) can be used to formfirst-person imperatives, equivalent to "let's...".

Chinese makes frequent use ofserial verb constructions, or verb stacking, where two or more verbs orverb phrases are concatenated together. This frequently involves either verbal complements appearing after the main verb, orcoverb phrases appearing before the main verb, but other variations of the construction occur as well.

A main verb may be preceded by anauxiliary verb, as in English. Chinese auxiliaries includenéng andnénggòu (能 and能够;能夠, "can");huì (会;會, "know how to");kéyǐ (可以, "may");gǎn (敢, "dare");kěn (肯, "be willing to");yīnggāi (应该;應該, "should");bìxū (必须;必須, "must"); etc. The auxiliary normally follows an adverb, if present. Inshortened sentences an auxiliary may be used without a main verb, analogously to English sentences such as "I can."

The active verb of a sentence may be suffixed with a second verb, which usually indicates either the result of the first action, or the direction in which it took the subject. When such information is applicable, it is generally considered mandatory. The phenomenon is sometimes calleddouble verbs.

A complement of result, or resultative complement (结果补语;結果補語;jiéguǒ bǔyǔ) is a verbal suffix which indicates the outcome, or possible outcome, of the action indicated by the main verb. In the following examples, the main verb istīng (听;聽 "to listen"), and the complement of result isdǒng (懂, "to understand/to know").

Since they indicate an absolute result, such double verbs necessarily represent a completed action, and are thusnegated usingméi (没;沒):

The morphemede (得) is placed between the double verbs to indicate possibility or ability. This is not possible with "restrictive" resultative compounds such asjiéshěng (节省, literally "reduce-save", meaning "to save, economize").^[38]

This is equivalent in meaning tonéng tīng dǒng (能听懂;能聽懂), using theauxiliarynéng (能), equivalent to "may" or "can".^[j]

To negate the above construction,de (得) is replaced bybù (不):

With some verbs, the addition ofbù and a particular complement of result is the standard method of negation. In many cases the complement isliǎo, represented by the same character as the perfective or modal particlele (了). This verb means "to finish", but when used as a complement for negation purposes it may merely indicate inability. For example:shòu bù liǎo (受不了, "to be unable to tolerate").

The complement of result is a highly productive and frequently used construction. Sometimes it develops into idiomatic phrases, as inè sǐ le (饿死了;餓死了, literally "hungry-until-die already", meaning "to be starving") andqì sǐ le (气死了;氣死了, literally "mad-until-die already", meaning "to be extremely angry"). The phrases for "hate/disdain" (看不起;kànbùqǐ), "sorry" (对不起;對不起;duìbùqǐ), and "too expensive to buy" (买不起;買不起;mǎi bùqǐ) all use the characterqǐ (起, "to rise up") as a complement of result, but their meanings are not obviously related to that meaning. This is partially the result of metaphorical construction, wherekànbùqǐ (看不起) literally means "to be unable to look up to"; andduìbùqǐ (对不起;對不起) means "to be unable to face someone".

Some more examples of resultative complements, used in complete sentences:

Double-verb construction where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first, and indicates what happens to the object as a result of the action.

Another double-verb where the second verb, "understand", suffixes the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant action.

A complement of direction, or directional complement (趋向补语;趨向補語;qūxiàng bǔyǔ) indicates the direction of an action involving movement. The simplest directional complements areqù (去, "to go") andlái (来;來, "to come"), which may be added after a verb to indicate movement away from or towards the speaker, respectively. These may form compounds with other verbs that further specify the direction, such asshàng qù (上去, "to go up"),gùo lái (过来;過來, "to come over"), which may then be added to another verb, such aszǒu (走, "to walk"), as inzǒu gùo qù (走过去;走過去, "to walk over"). Another example, in a whole sentence:

The directional suffixes indicate "up" and "towards".

If the preceding verb has an object, the object may be placed either before or after the directional complement(s), or even between two directional complements, provided the second of these is notqù (去).[39]

The structure with insertedde orbù is not normally used with this type of double verb. There are exceptions, such as "to be unable to get out of bed" (起不来床;起不來床;qǐ bù lái chuáng or起床不来;起床不來;qǐ chuáng bù lái).

Chinese has a class of words, calledcoverbs, which in some respects resemble both verbs andprepositions. They appear with a followingobject (orcomplement), and generally denote relationships that would be expressed by prepositions (or postpositions) in other languages. However, they are often considered to be lexically verbs, and some of them can also function as full verbs. When a coverb phrase appears in a sentence together with a main verb phrase, the result is essentially a type of serial verb construction. The coverb phrase, being anadverbial, precedes the main verb in most cases. For instance:

Here the main verb iszhǎo (找, "find"), andbāng (帮;幫) is a coverb. Herebāng corresponds to the English preposition "for", even though in other contexts it might be used as a full verb meaning "help".

Here there are three coverbs:zuò (坐 "by"),cóng (从;從, "from"), anddào (到, "to"). The wordszuò anddào can also be verbs, meaning "sit" and "arrive [at]" respectively. However,cóng is not normally used as a full verb.

A very common coverb that can also be used as a main verb iszài (在), as described in theLocative phrases section. Another example isgěi (给), which as a verb means "give". As a preposition,gěi may mean "for", or "to" when marking anindirect object or in certain other expressions.

Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they can also be referred to simply as prepositions. In Chinese they are calledjiè cí (介词;介詞), a term which generally corresponds to "preposition", or more generally, "adposition". The situation is complicated somewhat by the fact thatlocation markers—which also have meanings similar to those of certain English prepositions—are often called "postpositions".

Coverbs normally cannot takeaspect markers, although some of them form fixed compounds together with such markers, such asgēnzhe (跟着; 跟著; 'with +[aspect marker]'),ànzhe (按着; 按著, "according to"),yánzhe (沿着; 沿著, "along"), andwèile (为了; 為了 "for").^[40]

Serial verb constructions can also consist of two consecutive verb phrases with parallel meaning, such ashē kāfēi kàn bào, "drink coffee and read the paper" (喝咖啡看报;喝咖啡看報; 'drink coffee read paper'). Each verb may independently be negated or given thele aspect marker.^[41] If both verbs would have the same object, it is omitted the second time.

Consecutive verb phrases may also be used to indicate consecutive events. Use of thele aspect marker with the first verb may imply that this is the main verb of the sentence, the second verb phrase merely indicating the purpose. Use of thisle with the second verb changes this emphasis, and may require a sentence-finalle particle in addition. On the other hand, the progressive aspect markerzài (在) may be applied to the first verb, but not normally the second alone. The wordqù (去, "go") orlái (来;來, "come") may be inserted between the two verb phrases, meaning "in order to".

For constructions with consecutive verb phrases containing the same verb, see underAdverbs. For immediate repetition of a verb, seeReduplication andAspects.

Another case is the causative or pivotal construction.^[42] Here the object of one verb also serves as the subject of the following verb. The first verb may be something likegěi (给, "allow", or "give" in other contexts),ràng (让;讓, "let"),jiào (叫, "order" or "call") orshǐ (使, "make, compel"),qǐng (请;請, "invite"), orlìng (令, "command"). Some of these cannot take an aspect marker such asle when used in this construction, likelìng,ràng,shǐ. Sentences of this type often parallel the equivalent English pattern, except that English may insert theinfinitive marker "to". In the following example the construction is used twice:

Chinese has a number of sentence-finalparticles – these areweak syllables, spoken withneutral tone, and placed at the end of the sentence to which they refer. They are often calledmodal particles oryǔqì zhùcí (语气助词;語氣助詞), as they serve chiefly to expressgrammatical mood, or how the sentence relates to reality and/or intent. They include:^[43]

• ma (吗;嗎), which changes a statement into ayes–no question
• ne (呢), which expresses surprise, produces a question "with expectation", or expresses a currently ongoing event when answering a question
• ba (吧), which serves as atag question, e.g. "don't you think so?"; produces a suggestion e.g. "let's..."; or lessens certainty of a decision.
• a (啊),^[k] which reduces forcefulness, particularly of an order or question. It can also be used to add positive connotation to certain phrases or inject uncertainty when responding to a question.
• ou (呕;噢), which signals a friendly warning
• zhe (着;著), which marks theinchoative aspect, or need for change of state, in imperative sentences. Compare the imperfective aspect markerzhe in thesection above)
• le (了), which marks a "currently relevant state". This precedes any other sentence-final particles, and can combine witha (啊) to producela (啦); and withou (呕;噢) to producelou (喽;囉).

This sentence-finalle (了) should be distinguished from the verb suffixle (了) discussed in theAspects section. Whereas the sentence-final particle is sometimes described as aninceptive or as a marker ofperfect aspect, the verb suffix is described as a marker ofperfective aspect.^[44] Some examples of its use:

The position ofle in this example emphasizes his present status as a soldier, rather than the event of becoming. Compare with thepost-verballe example given in the Aspects section,wǒ dāng le bīng. However, when answering a question, the ending should be呢 instead of了. For example, to answer a question like "你现在做什么工作？" (What's your job now?), instead of usingle, a more appropriate answer should be

Compared with the post-verballe andguoexamples, this places the focus on the number three, and does not specify whether he is going to continue watching more games.

The two uses ofle may in fact be traced back to two entirely different words.^[45][46] The fact that they are now written the same way in Mandarin can cause ambiguity, particularly when the verb is not followed by an object. Consider the following sentence:

Thisle might be interpreted as either the suffixal perfective marker or the sentence-final perfect marker. In the former case it might mean "mother has come", as in she has just arrived at the door, while in the latter it might mean "mother is coming!", and the speaker wants to inform others of this fact. It is even possible for the two kinds ofle to co-occur:^[47]

Without the firstle, the sentence could again mean "he has eaten", or it could mean "he wants to eat now". Without the finalle the sentence would be ungrammatical without appropriate context, as perfectivele cannot appear in a semantically unbounded sentence.

Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked fornumber, meaning thatplural forms are mostly the same as the singular. However, there is a plural markermen (们;們), which has limited usage. It is used withpersonal pronouns, as inwǒmen (我们;我們, "we" or "us"), derived fromwǒ (我, "I, me"). It can be used with nouns representing humans, most commonly those with two syllables, like inpéngyoumen (朋友们;朋友們, "friends"), frompéngyou (朋友, "friend"). Its use in such cases is optional.^[48] It is never used when the noun has indefinite reference, or when it is qualified by a numeral.^[49]

The demonstrative pronounszhè (这;這, "this"), andnà (那, "that") may be optionally pluralized by the addition ofxiē (些，"few"), makingzhèxiē (这些;這些, "these") andnàxiē (那些, "those").

There is a construction in Chinese known as theshì ... [de] construction, which produces what may be calledcleft sentences.^[50] The copulashì (是) is placed before the element of the sentence which is to be emphasized, and the optional possessive particlede (的) is placed at the end of the sentence if the sentence ends in a verb, or after the last verb of the sentence if the sentence ends with a complement of the verb. For example:

Example with a sentence that ends with a complement:

If an object following the verb is to be emphasized in this construction, theshì precedes the object, and thede comes after the verb and before theshì.

Sentences with similar meaning can be produced usingrelative clauses. These may be called pseudo-cleft sentences.

Chinese has variousconjunctions (连词;連詞;liáncí) such ashé (和, "and"),dànshì (但是, "but"),huòzhě (或者, "or"), etc. However, Chinese quite often uses no conjunction where English would have "and".^[52]

Two or more nouns may be joined by the conjunctionshé (和, "and") orhuò (或 "or"); for exampledāo hé chā (刀和叉, "knife and fork"),gǒu huò māo (狗或貓, "dog or cat").

Certain adverbs are often used ascorrelative conjunctions, where correlating words appear in each of the linked clauses, such asbúdàn ... érqiě (不但 ... 而且; 'not only ... (but) also'),suīrán ... háishì (虽然 ... 还是;雖然...還是; 'although ... still'),yīnwèi ... suǒyǐ (因为 ... 所以;因為...所以; 'because ... therefore'). Such connectors may appear at the start of a clause or before the verb phrase.^[53]

Similarly, words likejìrán (既然, "since/in response to"),rúguǒ (如果) orjiǎrú (假如) "if",zhǐyào (只要 "provided that") correlate with an adverbjiù (就, "then") oryě (也, "also") in the main clause, to formconditional sentences.

In some cases, the same word may be repeated when connecting items; these includeyòu ... yòu ... (又...又..., "both ... and ..."),yībiān ... yībiān ... (一边...一边..., "... while ..."), andyuè ... yuè ... (越...越..., "the more ..., the more ...").

Conjunctions of time such as "when" may be translated with a construction that corresponds to something like "at the time (+relative clause)", where as usual, the Chinese relative clause comes before the noun ("time" in this case). For example:^[54]

Variants includedāng ... yǐqián (当...以前;當...以前 "before ...") anddāng ... yǐhòu (当...以后;當...以後, "after ..."), which do not use the relative markerde. In all of these cases, the initialdāng may be replaced byzài (在), or may be omitted. There are also similar constructions for conditionals:rúguǒ /jiǎrú/zhǐyào ... dehuà (如果/假如/只要...的话, "if ... then"), wherehuà (话;話) literally means "narrative, story".

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