Sentences
wsnake
June 21, 2011, 02:59 PM posted in General Discussion你好！
I have a question about sentences in chinese.It's a bit confusing. Is there a formula on how to build sentences? If so,should I practice on that or will this subject covered further down the road,at the other levels?
謝謝
wsnake
謝謝Jenny!
The 她喜欢中國/她喜欢中國吗? sentences are easy to get and understand the structure of.
When it comes to 我明天早上七點要上課。(I tomorrow morning 7 o'clock must attend class)
It gets a bit tricky. I wonder if you can say this sentence
like this: 我要上課明天早上七點。(I must attend class tomorrow morning 7 o'clock) ? :)
orangina
Nope, you just gotta get used to putting the time and place first. I do alright at that one now, but sometimes I'll say something and my friend will say, "Those were Chinese words, but an English sentence."
wsnake
Ok. Thanks alot!
So,let say; I went to the bar drinking beer yesterday evening.
it would be:我作天晚上酒吧喝啤酒. - I yesterday evening bar drinking beer. Would that be correct?
OleBrug
I'm not sure but I think you would have to say 我作天晚上在酒吧喝啤酒。Don't forget 在 if you want to say that something is happening somewhere.
jennyzhu
June 22, 2011, 03:12 AMwsnake,
Chinese syntax is indeed quite different from English or your natvie language I am sure. But fortunately basic sentence structures and grammar are quite simple, e.g. you don't need to change the word order for a statement and a question. Rather, you add a question particle at the end of a sentence to create a question, e.g. 他喜欢中国。/Tā xǐhuan Zhōngguó./He likes China. The question is 他喜欢中国吗?/Tā xǐhuan Zhōngguó ma?
My suggestion is that you start with newbie lessons and expose yourself to the most high frequency words and sentence patterns in Chinese.With the lesson podcasts and especially the expansion sentences, you will quickly develop awareness for Chinese syntax.