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Lesson 1. Now You Can Speak Chinese! 5 Basic Chinese Grammars Every Beginner Must Know!

You have to understand the basic Chinese grammars to become fluent in Chinese. If you are a beginner Chinese learner, I would recommend starting with something short and simple, like this!

 

1. Basic Sentence Structure

Just like English, the basic form of Chinese sentence structure is Subject + Verb + Object.

Subject Verb Object
學生。
学生。
shì xué shēng。
I am a student.

2. No Verb ‘To Be’. All You Need is「是」!

Unlike English, there is no verb ‘to be’ rules in Chinese. All personal pronouns, from ‘I’ to ‘it’, use 是 (shì) as the linking verb (Yes, 是 does not change form at all). Apart from being regarded as the verb ‘to be’ in Chinese, you will often find the word 是 in other contexts!

Subject Verb Object
學生。

学生。

xué shēng.

a student.

shì
I am
你/您
你/您
Nǐ/nín shì
You are
他/ 她/它
他/ 她/它
Tā/tā/tā shì
He/She/It is
我們

shì

are

學生。

学生。

xué shēng.

students.

我们
Wǒ men
We
你們
你们
Nǐ men
You
他們/她們/它們
他们/她们/它们
Tā men/tā men/tā men
They

Did you notice that there is no 您們 in Chinese?😉

 

3.「不」for the Opposite!

不 (bù), which means ‘no’ or ‘not’, is used to negate a verb. A kind reminder: 不 does not apply for all cases, there is another negative particle, 沒 (méi). 不 is placed before the verb, adjective, or preposition in a sentence.

Subject Negative Determiner Verb Object
學生。
学生。
shì xué shēng。
I am not a student.


4. 
「也」for Also/As Well/Too

Also/as well/too is expressed in Chinese as 也 (yě). As an adverb. 也 is written after the subject and before the verb. If there is a negative determiner, 也 is placed before the negative determiner.

Subject Also/As Well/Too Verb Object
學生。
学生。
shì xué shēng。
I am also a student.
Subject Also/As Well/Too Negative Determiner Verb Object
學生。
学生。
shì xué shēng。
I am not a student as well.


5. Asking Questions Using
「嗎」

Finally, you can use the question word 嗎 (ma) to ask almost any yes-no questions! You can convert your statement into a question, simply by placing it at the end of the sentence.

Subject Verb Object Question Word
學生 嗎?
学生 吗?
shì xué shēng ma?
Are you a student?

 

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