• guo (experiential perfective)

The two imperfectives, 正在 (zhèngzài-) and 着 [著] (-zhe) also differ in nuance:

• zhèngzài/zài (dynamic)
  • 我(wǒ) 正(zhèng) 在(zài) 挂(guà) 画(huà)。 [我正在掛畫。]
    I'm hanging pictures up. (The "hanging" is a continuous dynamic event.)

In other words, if the sentence could be sensibly phrased with "in the middle of", then zhèngzài is probably needed; otherwise, zhe. So, "I'm [in the middle of] hanging pictures up" is zhèngzài, but "A picture's [in the middle of] hanging on the wall" is zhe.

This sentence could variably be expressed by 走一走 zǒu yi zǒu, which means the same thing, and could possibly be translated as "walk a little walk".

Chinese grammar - Mood

Another category of devices unique to Chinese are the modal particles, used to express mood, or an expression of how a statement relates to reality and/or intent. Among them, the most important are:

• Le (inceptive)
  • 我(wǒ) 没(méi) 有(yǒu) 钱(qián) 了(le)。 [我沒有錢了。]
    As of now, I have no money. (I've gone broke.)

• Ne (pending) — frequently co-ordinates with 还 [還] hái (still)
  • 他(tā) 还(hái) 没(méi) 有(yǒu) 回(huí) 家(jiā) 呢(ne)。 [他還沒有回家呢。]
    He still has not returned home. (There has been no change in the old situation)

The perfective le and the inceptive le are two different words. The Chinese linguist Y.R. Chao (Zhào Yuánrèn) traces the two "le" back to two entirely different words. The fact that they are now written the same way in Mandarin can cause confusion. Consider the following sentence:

妈(mā) 妈(ma) 来(lái) 了(le) ！(!) [媽媽來了！]

The aspect marker le comes after a transitive or intransitive verb. The modal particle le comes at the end of a sentence and governs the entire sentence. When an intransitive verb comes at the end of a sentence, then the only way to determine whether the le at the end of the sentence is perfective or inceptive is to look at the social context. The sentence given above can have two different meanings. In one case, someone is perhaps engaged in a long distance telephone call with Mother. He is trying to convince her to travel to where he is for some celebration. He hangs up the phone and says, "Māma (yào) lái le!" That sentence gives the information that Mother had not previously agreed to travel here, but the situation has changed and she will be coming after all. If, however, there is a knock on the front door and someone who has gone to answer the door shouts, "Māma lái le!" it means that she has come.

Chinese grammar - Serial Verb Constructions

Serial verb construction is a basic feature of Chinese grammar, in which two or more verbs are concatenated together. Also known as verb stacking, serial verb construction typically manifests itself in two ways: verbal complements, which appear after the main verb, and coverbs, which appear before the main verb. Such stacking is also present in the two other major languages of the Northeast Asia region, Korean and Japanese (Japanese grammar; Korean does not yet have an article on its Korean grammar).

Chinese grammar - Verbal Complements

Chinese sentences typically concern themselves greatly with the result and direction of a verb, where applicable. Because of this, Chinese has developed powerful grammatical machinery which facilitates the construction of sentences that supply this information. Western texts concerning themselves with Chinese grammar sometimes refer to this as double verbs.

Essentially, the active verb of a sentence is suffixed with a second verb which indicates either the result of the first action, or the direction in which it took the subject. When such information is appropriate, it is generally mandatory.

A complement of result comes in two flavors: one indicates an absolute outcome, and the other a possible or likely outcome. To illustrate, the verb 听 [聽] tīng, "to listen") will serve as the active verb, and 懂 (dǒng, "to understand", "to know") will serve as the complement of result.

• 听(tīng) 懂(dǒng) [聽懂]
  To understand (something you hear)
  Positive absolute complement of result

• 没(méi) 听(tīng) 懂(dǒng) [沒聽懂]
  To have not understood (something you hear)
  Negative absolute complement of result
  Note that the existence of an absolute complement of result forces the active verb into the perfective aspect, as discussing the absolute result of an unfinished action would be meaningless — hence the use of 没 [沒] (méi) to negate the verb.

• 听(tīng) 得(de) 懂(dǒng) [聽得懂]
  To be able to understand (something you hear)
  Positive possible complement of result
  This form is equivalent in meaning to 能听懂 [能聽懂]

• 听(tīng) 不(bù) 懂(dǒng) [聽不懂]
  To be unable to understand (something you hear)
  Negative possible complement of result
  Note that the result is negated in this construction, not the active verb, and that the use of 不 (bù), not 没 [沒] is required because the resulting action, being only a possibility, can obviously not be in a completed state.

The complement of result is a tremendously powerful construction, and is used frequently in Chinese. Expressions such as 餓死了 [饿死了] (è sǐ le, literally: hungry-die-PF, meaning (I'm) starving) and 氣死了 [ 气死了] (qì sǐ le, literally: mad-die-PF, meaning (I'm) angry to death) pepper the language. Further, it is possible to analyze many of the aspect suffixes from the perspective of a complement of result; for example, 了 (le) means "finished", so it makes sense that placing it after the verb should force the active verb's aspect into the perfective. The similarity ends there, though, as it is impossible to, for example, construct a possible complement using 了 (le), although it is possible to do so with 了 (liǎo) (same character, different sound). Although this latter reading has the same meaning as the former in principle, in a complement of result it simply indicates inability with some verbs (for example, 受不了, to be unable to stand something or someone, as in "I can't stand it!"). This use of the complement of result (to simply negate certain verbs) is quite common. Those verbs which can be negated with a complement of result often must be negated with a complement of result.

Sometimes, idiomatic phrases develop using the complement of result that seem to have no relation whatsoever to the result in question. For example, the phrases 看不起, 對不起 [ 对不起], and 買不起 [ 买不起] all use 起 (qǐ, to rise up) as their complement of result, but their meanings (to look down upon, to apologize, and to be unable to afford, respectively) are not obviously related to that character's actual meaning. This is partially the result of metaphorical construction, where 看不起 literally means to be unable to look up to, and 對不起 [ 对不起] to be unable to face (someone).

• 他(tā) 把(bǎ) 盘(pán) 子(zi) 打(dǎ) 破(pò) 了(le)。 [他把盤子打破了。]
  literal: he OBJ-plate hit-break-PF.
  He hit/dropped the plate, and it broke.
  (double-verb where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first, and indicates what happens to the object as a result of the action.)

• 这(zhè(i)) 部(bù) 电(diàn) 影(yǐng) 我(wǒ) 看(kàn) 不(bù) 懂(dǒng)。 [這部電影我看不懂。]
  literal: This movie I look-no-understand.
  I can't understand this movie (even though I watched it.)
  (double-verb as well, where the second verb, "understand", suffixes the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant action.)

The direction of an action that moves must typically be specified. At its simplest, the two directional complements 去 (qù, to go) and 來 [ 来] (lái, to come) may be affixed to the end of a verb to indicated that it moves somehow away or towards the speaker, respectively. These may be compounded with other verbs that further specify the direction, such as 上去 (shàng qù, to ascend), 過來 [ 过来] (gùo lái, to come over), which may then be themselves affixed to a verb (such as 走過去 [ 走过去], zǒu gùo qù, to walk over). Typically, these are only found in an absolute form, although counter-examples of course exist (起不來床 [ 起不来床] or 起床不來, to be unable to get up out of bed). Another example:

• 他走上來了。 [ 他走上来了。]
  literal: he walk-up-close-PF.
  He walked up.
  (directional suffixes indicating "up" and "close".)

Chinese grammar - Coverbs

Some serial verb constructions have verbs that take noun phrases in order to express many of the relationships that are expressed by prepositions in English. The verbs that typically convey the meaning of the associated prepositions are called coverbs. For instance:

我(wǒ)帮(bāng)你(nǐ)找(zhǎo)他(tā)。(.) [我幫你找他。]
literally: I help you find him.
I will find him for you.

The coverb phrase, "help you" (bāng nǐ), is used in conjunction with the main verb "find" (zhǎo) and functions the same way as the English prepositional phrase, "for you," in this context.

Certain verbs in Chinese can function as coverbs, taking on a idiomatic prepositional meaning. For instance, when used as a standalone verb, 到 (dào) means "to arrive." However, when used as a coverb, it can mean "to." Many coverbs are often used only in their prepositional sense, such as 从 (cóng), which is almost always seen as a coverb meaning "from." Here is an example showing a serial verb construction involving several coverbs:

我(wǒ)坐(zuò)飞机(fēijī)从(cóng)上海(Shànghǎi)到(dào)北京(Běijīng)去(qù)。(.) [我坐飛機從上海到北京去。]
literally: I sit airplane originate Shanghai arrive Beijing go.
I travel from Shanghai to Beijing by airplane.

Because coverbs essentially function as prepositions, they are often referred to as prepositions, even though they are lexically verbs.

Chinese grammar - Counters or measure words / unitary

Finally, Chinese nouns require counters (also termed measure words or classifiers) in order to be counted. That is, when specifying the amount of a countable noun, the counter has to agree with the noun. Hence one must say 兩頭牛 [ 两头牛 ] "two heads of cattle", not two cows, with 頭 [ 头 ] "head" being the unit of measurement, or measure word. This phenomena is common in East Asian languages. (In English, some words, as in the cited example of "cattle," are often paired with a noun used much like the Chinese measure word. Bottle in "two bottles of wine" or piece in "three pieces of paper" are examples; one does not typically say, "two wines" or "three papers", unless talking about types of wine or academic research respectively.)

While there are dozens, if not hundreds of counters that exist, which must be memorized individually for each noun, the vast majority of words use generally use 个 (ge), and many of those that may use others can also use 个 if the speaker chooses. Moreover, counter words are generally associated with certain groups of nouns related by meaning, such as 條 tiáo for long, thin objects or animals (e.g. ropes, snakes or fish), 把 bǎ for objects with handles (e.g. knives, umbrellas) 張 zhāng for paper or paper-derived objects (photographs etc.)

For a series of words or objects paired by an appositive with a counter (measure word), this appositive numerical phrase generally follows the nominal phrase. For example

In "DS-230和OF-169两份表格", 两 liang means "two", 份 fen means "set", and 表格 biaoge is the noun "form(s)".

Chinese grammar - Parts of speech

• Chinese nouns
• Chinese adverbs
• Chinese pronouns
• Chinese adjectives
• Chinese verbs

See also

• Chinese language

Categories: Chinese language | Grammars of specific languages