Grammar Explanation
Action verbs in Chinese are similar to the ones in English. They express an action or the occurrence of an event. The word order of this type of sentence is normally the same as in English.
| S | V | O |
|---|---|---|
| wǒ | dǎ | lánqiú. |
| 我 | 打 | 篮球。 |
I play basketball.
| tā | xǐhuān | yīnyuè. |
| 他 | 喜欢 | 音乐。 |
He likes music.
“不” (no or not) can follow the subject to express the negative meaning of the verb. However, the verb “有”(to have) can only be negated by “没”. So, “I don’t have a car” is always “我 没有 车”, never “我 不有 车”.
Questions can be formed simply by adding the interrogative particle “吗” to the end of the sentence.
| S | V | O | 吗？ |
|---|---|---|---|
| nǐ | hē | shuǐ | mɑ？ |
| 你 | 喝 | 水 | 吗？ |
Do you drink water?
| nǐ | yǒu | nánpénɡyǒu | mɑ？ |
| 你 | 有 | 男朋友 | 吗？ |
Do you have a boyfriend?
Questions can also be formed by using the “positive + negative” form of the verb. In this kind of sentence pattern, “吗” is always omitted.
| S | V | V-Negative | O? |
|---|---|---|---|
| nǐ | chī | bùchī | fàn？ |
| 你 | 吃 | 不吃 | 饭？ |
Do you (want to) eat a meal?
| nǐ | yào | búyào | kělè？ |
| 你 | 要 | 不要 | 可乐？ |
Do you want cola (or not)?