{"id":3162,"date":"2011-06-27T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T18:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2011-06-27T13:55:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T17:55:00","slug":"grammar-who-what-when-where","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/grammar-who-what-when-where\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Gramatical: Who, What, When, Where (\u8bed\u6cd5)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Many followers of this Blog have requested some basic grammar or \u8bed\u6cd5 (y\u01d4<\/a> f\u01ce<\/a>) rules with explanation, so today lets focus on the basics of a sentence:<\/p>\n

Who (\u8c01 sh\u00e9i)<\/strong>
\n What (\u4ec0\u4e48 sh\u00e9nme)<\/strong>
\n When (\u4ec0\u4e48\u65f6\u5019 sh\u00e9nme sh\u00edhou)<\/strong>
\n Where (\u5728\u54ea\u513f z\u00e0in\u01cer)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s start with a basic sentence in English. Someone asks you what you’ve been up to lately and your response is: “Yesterday afternoon, I went to see a movie with my friends at a New York Cinema”.<\/p>\n

Now in English, there are a variety of ways to rephrase this sentence, as you can move the subject, verb and object all throughout. Examples: ” I went to see a movie at New York Cinema, yesterday afternoon, with my friends” or “Yesterday, at a New York Cinema, my friends and I saw a movie” etc…<\/p>\n

But in Chinese, the rules of grammar (thankfully) are much more fixed and simplistic, often following a prescribed order.<\/p>\n

The basic sentence structure order is the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) When<\/strong> (this includes sequentially, the Date, part of day [afternoon, everning, morning], and then time respectively), 2) Where<\/strong> (location), 3) Who<\/strong> (Subject), and 4) What<\/strong> (verb) or what occurred.<\/p>\n

To give a Chinglish format: Yesterday afternoon at 7pm, in a New York Cinema, My friends and I, saw a movie.<\/p>\n

Now for the Chinese: \u6628\u5929\u4e0b\u5348\u5728\u7ebd\u7ea6\u7535\u5f71\u9662\u4e0a\uff0c\u6211\u8ddf\u670b\u53cb\u4eec\u770b\u7535\u5f71.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)When: \u6628\u5929\u4e0b\u5348<\/p>\n

2)Where: \u5728\u7ebd\u7ea6\u7535\u5f71\u9662\u4e0a<\/p>\n

3) Who: \u6211\u8ddf\u670b\u53cb\u4eec<\/p>\n

4) What: \u770b\u7535\u5f71<\/p>\n

Here’s the pinyin: zu\u00f3ti\u0101n xi\u00e0w\u01d4\uff0cz\u00e0i ni\u01d4 yu\u0113 di\u00e0ny\u01d0ng yu\u00e0n shang, w\u01d2 g\u0113n p\u00e9ngyoum\u00e9n k\u00e0n di\u00e0ny\u01d0ng<\/p>\n

Here \u6628\u5929\u4e0b\u5348 is the when, \u5728\u7ebd\u7ea6\u7535\u5f71\u9662\u4e0a is the where (\u5728\u3002\u3002\u3002\u4e0a is a pattern for at, in, on the premises\/location), \u6211\u8ddf\u670b\u53cb\u4eec is the who (subject) and lastly \u770b\u7535\u5f71 is the what (verb). Chinese very often follows a basic Subject + verb + object construction, with most qualifiers preceding the subject + verb + object construction.<\/p>\n

If you follow this order, you will be grammatically correct in your Chinese. However, I will note that there are some exceptions to the rule (such as the subject \u6211 can precede the when and where). If you are a beginner or intermediate Chinese learner, however, I recommend sticking to this pattern until you are fully comfortable with it. Please feel free to make your own sentences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Many followers of this Blog have requested some basic grammar or \u8bed\u6cd5 (y\u01d4 f\u01ce) rules with explanation, so today lets focus on the basics of a sentence: Who (\u8c01 sh\u00e9i) What (\u4ec0\u4e48 sh\u00e9nme) When (\u4ec0\u4e48\u65f6\u5019 sh\u00e9nme sh\u00edhou) Where (\u5728\u54ea\u513f z\u00e0in\u01cer) Let’s start with a basic sentence in English. Someone asks you what you’ve been up…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":12287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2629,8273,7307,8272,36377],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-what","tag-when","tag-where","tag-who","tag-36377"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t