Chinese particles

In classical Chinese philology, words are divided into two classes: the shízì (实字 lit. "solid word") and the xūzì (虛字 lit. "empty word"). The former include what modern linguists call verbs, nouns, and adjectives, while the latter includes what modern linguists call particles. Opinions differ as to which category pronouns and adverbs belong to. Chinese particles are also known as yǔzhù (语助), zhùzì (助字), zhùcí (助词/助辭), yǔcí (语词) or simply cí (辭).

Contents

Functions

Classical Chinese

The function of a Chinese particle depends on its position in the sentence, and the context. The character for a Chinese particle is only used phonetically, thus the same particle can be written with different characters. For example, qí/jī (其, which originally represented the word jī "winnowing basket", now represented by the character 箕), a common particle in classical Chinese have, among others, various meaning as listed below.

Preceding syntactic element Example sentence Translation
qí/jī
其		 Can have various functions depending on context.
third-person possessive adjective: his/her/its/their Gōng yù shàn qí shì, bì xiān lì qí qì.
工欲善其事，必先利其器。		 A workman who wants to do his job well has to sharpen his tools first.
demonstrative adjective: that/those Yǐ qí rén zhī dào, huán zhì qí rén zhī shēn.
以其人之道，還治其人之身。		 Punish that person (someone) with his very own tricks.
suffix before adjective or verb Běifēng qí liáng, yǔ xuě qí pāng.
北風其涼，雨雪其雱。		 The northern wind is cool; the snow falls heavily.
to express doubt, uncertainty Wú qí hái yě.
Jūn qí wèn zhū shuǐ bīn.
吾其還也。
君其問諸水濱。		 I had better go.
You have to go to the riverside to make an inquiry, I'm afraid.
to express hope, command Wúzi qí wú fèi xiān jūn zhī gōng!
吾子其無廢先君之功！		 Boy, don't ruin the accomplishment of your father!
to form a rhetorical question Yù jiāzhī zuì, qí wú cí hu?
欲加之罪，其無辭乎？		 How could we fail to find words, when we want to accuse someone?
zhī
之		 Possessive marker
personal pronoun Hérén zhī jiàn
何人之劍		 Whose sword is this?
proper noun Dōngfāng zhī guāng
東方之光		 The light of the East
yǔ
與		 Translates to: "and" (conjunction); "with" or "as with" (preposition).
yě
也		 Emphatic final particle.
ér
而		 Conjunction
hu
乎		 Can have various functions depending on context.
  1. A preposition
  2. A modal particle to express doubt, praise, surprise, or to highlight the word in front
  3. To express a question, when placed at the end of a phrase
Phrases: question Bù yì jūnzǐ hu
不亦君子乎		 Is this not the mark of a gentleman?

Vernacular Chinese

Preceding syntactic element Example sentence Translation
bā
吧		 Emphatic final particle. Indicates a suggestion, or softens a command into a question. Equivalent to using a question tag like "aren't you?" or making a suggestion in the form of "let's (do something)".
Verbs Wǒmen zǒu ba.
我们走吧。		 Let's go.
de
的		 Used as a possession indicator, topic marker, nominalization. Vernacular Chinese equivalent of Classical 之.
Noun: posession Wǒ de chē
我的车		 My car.
Noun: description Piàoliang de nǚhái
漂亮的女孩		 Pretty girl.
Phrases: nominalization (creates a noun) Zhège píngguǒ shì hǎo de
这个苹果是好的		 This apple is good. (Lit: This apple is good [apple])
děng
等		 Translates to: "for example, things like, such as, etc., and so on". Used at the end of a list.
Nouns Shāngpǐn yǒu diànnǎo, shǒujī, yídòng yìngpán děng děng.
商品有电脑，手机，移动硬盘等等。		 Products include computers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, et cetera. (The second 等 can be omitted)
gè
个/個		 Used as a counter, also called a measure word.(general classifier) This is the most commonly used classifier, but anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred classifiers exist in Chinese.
Number Yī gè xiāngjiāo
一个香蕉		 One banana
Yī xiē xiāngjiāo
一些香蕉		 Some bananas
Note: general classifier All Chinese classifiers generally have the same usage, but different nouns use different measure words in different situations.
 ie: 人(rén; person) generally uses 个(gè), but uses 位(wèi) for polite situations, 班(bān) for groups of people, and 辈/輩(bèi) for generations of people, while 花(huā; flower) uses 支(zhī) for stalks of flowers and 束(shù) for bundles of flowers.
hái
还/還		 Translates to: "also", "even", "still"
Verbs Wǒmen hái yǒu wèixīng píndào!
我们还有卫星频道！		 We also have satellite television channels!
Verbs Tā hái zài shuìjiào ne.
他还在睡觉呢。		 He is still sleeping.
hé
和		 Translates to: "and" (conjunction); "with" or "as with" (preposition). Vernacular Chinese equivalent of Classical 與.
Nouns: conjunction Zhāng Sān hé Lǐ Sì shì wǒmen zuì cōngmíng de xuéshēng.
张三和李四是我们最聪明的学生。		 Zhang San and Li Si are our most intelligent students.
kě
可		 Translates to: "could", "-able"
Verbs Nǐ kěyǐ huí jiāle.
你可以回家了。		 You can go home now.
Verbs Kě'ài
可愛		 Loveable (i.e. cute)
le
了		 Used to indicate a completed action. Within informal language, can be alternatively replaced with 啦 la or 喽 lou.
Action Tā zŏu le
他走了		 He has gone.
ma
吗/嗎		 Used as a question denominator.
Phrases: question Nǐ jiǎng pǔtōnghuà ma?
你讲普通话吗？		 Do you speak Mandarin?
shì
是		 Used as the copula "to be"; as a topic marker.
Nouns Zhège nǚhái shì měiguó rén.
这个女孩是美国人。		 This girl is an American.
yě
也		 Translates to: "also"
Nouns Wǒ yěshì xuéshēng.
我也是学生。		 I am also a student.
zhe
着		 Used to indicate a continuing action.
Action Tā shuìzhejiào shí yǒurén qiāomén
他睡着觉时有人敲门		 Someone knocked while he was sleeping.
zhǐ
只		 Translates to: "only, just"
Nouns Zhǐyǒu chéngrén kěyǐ rù nèi.
只有成人可以入内。		 Only adults are permitted to enter.

Studies

The first book devoted to the studies of the Chinese particles is Speech Helpers (語助) by Lu Yiwei (盧以緯) of the Yuan Dynasty. More important works concerning the particles followed, including Some Notes on the Helping Words (助字辨略) by Liu Qi (劉淇) and Explanations of the Articles Found in the Classics (經傳釋詞) by Wang Yinzhi (王引之), both published during the Qing Dynasty. These works focus on the particles found in the Confucius classics, paying little attentions to the particles used in the vernacular literature. The Compilation and Explanations of the Colloquial Terms Found in Classical Poetry and Operas (詩詞曲語辭彙釋) by Zhang Xiang (張相), published posthumously in 1953, was the first work covering the particles found in the vernacular literature.

See also

References