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
我	是	學生。
我	是	学生。
Wǒ	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
我	是	學生。学生。 xué shēng. a student.
我	是
Wǒ	shì
I	am
你/您	是
你/您	是
Nǐ/nín	shì
You	are
他/ 她/它	是
他/ 她/它	是
Tā/tā/tā	shì
He/She/It	is
我們	是是 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
我	不	是	學生。
我	不	是	学生。
Wǒ	bù	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
我	也	是	學生。
我	也	是	学生。
Wǒ	yě	shì	xué shēng。
I	am also		a student.

Subject	Also/As Well/Too	Negative Determiner	Verb	Object
我	也	不	是	學生。
我	也	不	是	学生。
Wǒ	yě	bù	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.