Chinese Grammar

General principles

Sentences usually have the following structure:

Subject + Adverb + Verb + Complement

The Chinese language has no singular or plural, apart for the pronouns. Verbs don’t have conjugation. Tenses are expressed by the addition of a verbal compound made of one or two characters. Context makes it possible to deduce the meaning. 

Personal pronouns

Classifiers

In Chinese, it is not possible to speak about an object with only an article, as in “a (tree)”, “the (girl)”, “the (books)”. It is necessary to add a classifier between the article and the object. The classifier specifies the category of the object (flat, recipient, long, human, animal…). It is mandatory but makes for an economy of words, since it already describes the object, in terms of quality, capacity, etc…

a cup of tea
a + classifier for cup + tea
一杯茶
Yī bēi chá

three books
three + qualifier for a book + book
三本书
Sān běn shū

two persons
two + classifier for persons + person
两 个人
Liǎng gè rén

Qualifiers are given for each HSK word, see the different sections in the HSK.

Numbers

Between 11 and 19, we say 10 followed by the number.

17 = 十七 (Shíqī)
   = 10 and 7

From 101 to 999, we say the first number (except if it’s 1), then one hundred, then the second number, then ten, then the last number.

561 = 五百六十一 (Wǔbǎi liùshí yī)
    = 5, 100, 6, 10, 1, that is 5*100 + 6*10 + 1

From 1000 to 9999, we say the first number (except if it’s one) followed by 1000, then the second number followed by 100, then the third number followed by 10, then the last number.

4561 = 四千五百六十一 (Sìqiān wǔbǎi liùshí yī)
     = 4, 1000, 5, 100, 6, 10, 1, that is 4*1000 + 5*100 + 6*10 + 1

Be mindful that afterwards, Chinese has a unit for multiples of 10000: 万 (wàn). This causes a lot of confusion when doing business.

34002 = 三万零二 (Sān wàn líng èr)

Note: zero is only used a single time when there are several in a number.

Adverbs

Question adverbs

你什么时候来？
Nǐ shénme shíhòu lái?
When do you arrive?

Negation

The negation mark goes between subject and verb.

她不是法国人。+ Tā bùshì fàguó rén.
She is not French.

我没去。+ Wǒ méi qù.
I did not go there.

Past

Action effectively done

V + 了

V + le

我买了四本书。+ Wǒ mǎile sì běn shū.
I have bought four books.

Action not done

没（有）+ V

Méi (yǒu)+ V

我昨天没去饭馆。+ Wǒ zuótiān méi qù fànguǎn.
I did not go to the restaurant yesterday.

Past experience, effectively done

V + 过

我去过中国。+ Wǒ qùguò zhōngguó.
I have been to China.

Past experience, not done

没（有）+ V + 过

méi (yǒu)+ V + guò

她没去过中国。+ Tā méi qùguò zhōngguó.
She did not go to China.

Future

要 + V

yào +V

他要去饭店。+ Tā yào qù fàndiàn.
He wants to go to the restaurant.

Repetition

"often" frequency

again

Verbs

Will

Ability, likelihood

Obligation