Chinese grammar
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- This article describes the grammar of Standard Mandarin. For the grammars of other forms of Chinese, see their respective articles via links on Chinese language and Spoken Chinese.
Chinese grammar—here referring to that of Standard Mandarin—shares a similar system of grammar with the many language varieties or dialects of the Chinese language, different from those employed by other language families, and comparable to the similar features found within, for instance, the Slavic languages or Semitic languages. Beyond genetic similarities within the Sino-Tibetan language family to which Chinese belongs, there are also strong similarities within the East Asian sprachbund, a group of mutually-influenced but not directly related languages, including Japanese and Korean.
One key feature of Chinese grammar is that all words have only one grammatical form, as the language lacks conjugation, declension, or any other inflection (there are minor exceptions). Functions such as number in nouns or tense in verbs are expressed through word order or particles. In other words, where nouns might be distinguished by singular and plural ("woman" and "women") or verbs by number or person ("I go", "he goes"), Chinese lexemes are typically invariant.
Because of the lack of inflections, Chinese grammar may appear quite simple compared to that of many highly-inflected Western languages (e.g. Russian, Latin, etc.), or even the low-scale verb conjugations, for instance, of English (e.g. "swim, swam, swum"). However, Chinese displays a very high level of complexity in its syntax.
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[edit] Topic-prominence
Chinese is considered to be a topic-prominent language, where the topic of the sentence (defined as "old" information whereupon the sentence is based) takes precedence in the sentence. For example, the following sentences do not seem to follow normal subject-first word order, but adhere perfectly to the topic-comment structure (Traditional Characters in parentheses):
今 天 爬 山 ，明 天 野 营 。 [今天爬山，明天野營。]
Today climb mountains, tomorrow camp outdoors. This is an example of a pro-drop sentence. The subject of this sentence (for instance, "we" or "I" or "our school group") would be determined by context.
游 泳 我 最 拿 手 。
Swimming I am the best (as compared with other activities, such as running). (I'm the best at swimming.)
Mandarin is often classified as an SVO language, but Mandarin also has many characteristics of SOV languages like Turkish. For example, it relies heavily on postpositions rather than prepositions, for example:
Mandarin also relies on the formation of adjectival phrases rather than subordination, for example:
被 我 骑 过 的 马 [被我騎過的馬]
"by me ridden horse" = the horse that I have ridden给 人 烦 恼 的 事 情 [給人煩惱的事情]
"(give people worries)'s matter" or "to people worrisome matter" = matter that worries people
Moreover, verb phrases come at the end of a clause if the object or indirect object is "marked." For example, there are two types of accusative cases in Mandarin. Accusative I is the more commonly found case. Accusative II results in a change of state in the object, and implies a stronger sense in which something is done to the object, and is marked with the prefix 把 bǎ and by a movement of the verb phrase to the end of the clause.
我 打 破 了 盘 子 。 [我打破了盤子。]
I broke the plate. (Accusative I), versus我 把 盘 子 打 破 了 。[我把盤子打破了。]
I (acc.)-plate broke (and it is no longer intact). (Accusative II)
我 打 了 一 个 电 话 。 [我打了一個電話。]
I hit a telephone (I made a phone call). (Accusative I), versus我 把 他 打 了 一 顿 。 [我把他打了一頓。]
I him beat (up). (Accusative II)
Similarly, sentences with an indirect object marked by the dative 給/给 gěi– or sentences in the passive construction (with the subject prefixed by 被 bèi–) follow SOV word ordering:
不 要 给 我 拍 马 屁 。 [不要給我拍馬屁。]
Don't (dat.)-me flatter (Don't flatter me).他 被 我 打 了 一 顿 。 [他被我打了一頓。]
He by me beaten (up) (He was beaten up by me).
[edit] Aspects
Aspect is a feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of language. Chinese has a unique complement of aspects: for example, there are two perfectives, 了 (-le) and 過/过 (-guo) which subtly differ in meaning.
- le (perfective)
- guo (experiential perfective)
我 当 过 兵 。 [我當過兵。]
I've been a soldier before (but no longer am).他 看 过 三 场 球 赛 。 [他看過三場球賽。]
He has watched three ballgames (and that is the sum of all the ballgames he has ever watched; in the context of actions like "watch" or "take part," which can easily be repeated, this does not have the same connotation of the first usage, but merely denotes that the action was in the past and describes the state of affairs up to now.)
The two imperfectives, 正在 (zhèngzài-) and 著/着 (-zhe) also differ in nuance:
- zhèngzài/zài (dynamic)
- zhe (static)
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.
- Reduplication is used to form the delimitative aspect — an action that goes on for a little bit:
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".
[edit] 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:
- Ne (pending) — frequently co-ordinates with 還/还 hái (still)
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.[1] The fact that they are now written the same way in Mandarin can cause confusion. Consider the following sentence:
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.
[edit] 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 Turkish (similar to compound verb formation with gitmek, vermek, and olarak) and in the two other major languages of the Northeast Asia region, Korean and Japanese (Japanese grammar; Korean grammar).
[edit] 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.
[edit] Complement of Result
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.
没 听 懂 [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 得 懂 [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 不 懂 [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 饿死了 [餓死了] (è sǐ le, literally: hungry-till-die already, meaning (I'm) starving) and 气死了 [氣死了] (qì sǐ le, literally: mad-till-die already, meaning (I'm) extremely angry) 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" or "already", 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 (tolerate) 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, 对不起 [對不起], and 买不起 [買不起] 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 (look down), and 对不起 [對不起] to be unable to face (someone).
[edit] Other examples
他 把 盘 子 打 破 了 。 [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 部 电 影 我 看 不 懂 。 [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.)
[edit] Complement of direction
The direction of an action that moves must typically be specified. At its simplest, the two directional complements 去 (qù, to go) and 来 [來] (lái, to come) may be affixed to the end of a verb to indicate 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), 过来 [過來] (gùo lái, to come over), which may then be themselves affixed to a verb (such as 走过去 [走過去], zǒu gùo qù, to walk over). Typically, these are only found in an absolute form, although counter-examples of course exist (起不来床 [起不來床] or 起床不來, to be unable to get up out of bed). Another example:
- 他走上来了。 [他走上來了。]
literal: he walk-up-close-PF.
He walked up.
(directional suffixes indicating "up" and "close".)
[edit] Counters (or measure words / unitary)
- Main article: Chinese measure word
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 head of cattle", not two cows, with "頭/头 head" being the unit of measurement, or measure word. This phenomenon 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.)
Counters serve a similar, but not identical, role as the grammatical gender of nouns in Indo-European languages. While there are dozens, if not hundreds of counters that exist, which must be memorized individually for each noun, the vast majority of words generally use "個/个 gè", analogous to the neuter gender, and many of those that may use others can also use "個/个" if the speaker chooses. However, counters are not entirely analogous to grammatical gender, because they are often lexically meaningful. In particular, counter words are generally associated with certain groups of nouns related by meaning, such as "條/条 tiáo" for long, thin objects or animals (e.g. ropes, snakes or fish), "把 bǎ" for objects with handles (e.g. knives, umbrellas) "張/张 zhāng" for paper or paper-derived objects (photographs etc.). However, the counters for many nouns appear arbitrary. "Table" (桌子 zhuozi) and "chair" (椅子 yizi) are zhāng nouns, while another word for chair, "dengzi" is a neuter "个" noun. "Monkey" (and certain other animals) and "pencil" are both "隻/只 zhi" nouns.
The endings for the indefinite and demonstrative article must also agree with the appropriate counter for a noun. For example, "gou" means dog or "the dog." But to specify "that/that (in direction of addressee) /this dog" (demonstrative) one says "neizhi/nazhi/zheizhi gou," and to say "a dog" one says "yizhi gou," where the ending "-zhi" agrees with the "gender" of the noun "gou." Similarly, "that/that (in direction of addressee) this/a house" are "neizuo/nazuo/zhezuo/yizuo fangzi," where the ending -zuo agrees with the noun "fangzi."
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
- 内含个人资料表格，即DS-230和OF-169两份表格
- ...containing the two personal information forms DS-230 and OF-169
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)".
[edit] Parts of speech
- Chinese nouns
- Chinese adverbs
- Chinese pronouns
- Chinese adjectives
- Chinese verbs
- Chinese particles
[edit] Notes
- ^ Yuen Ren Chao, A Grammar of Spoken Chinese, p. 246.
[edit] References
- Yuen Ren Chao [Zhao Yuanren 趙元任]: A Grammar of Spoken Chinese, Zhongguohua de wenfa 中國話的文法 (Berkeley etc., University of California Press 1968; new edition in: Zhao Yuanren quanji 赵元任全集 Bd. 3; Beijing, Commercial Press 2004, ISBN 7-100-03345-4).
- Charles N. Li, Sandra A. Thompson: Mandarin Chinese, A functional reference grammar (Berkeley etc., University of California Press 1981).
- Lü Shuxiang 呂叔湘: Zhongguo wenfa yaolüe 中國文法要略 (Shangwu yinshuguan 商務印書館 1957).
- Wang Li 王力: Zhongguo xiandai yufa 中國現代語法 (Zhonghua shuju 中華書局; 1955).
- Yip Po-Ching [Ye Buqing 葉步青], Don Rimmington: Chinese, A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Grammars; Routledge, 2004), ISBN 0-415-15032-9.
[edit] External links
