The basic principle in making Chinese sentences is to follow the “topic+comment” structure. “Topic” means the subject matter you want to talk about, and “comment” is the information you give about the subject matter. To make a Chinese sentence, you simply first mention the subject matter you want to talk about, and then say what you have to say about it. For example, you can say 这件事 zhè jiàn shì (this matter/affair) first as the “topic” and then add “comment”:
这件事 我不清楚。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ bù qīngchǔ. I’m not clear about this matter.
这件事 我很了解。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ hěn liǎojiě. I know this matter well.
这件事 谁都不知道。Zhè jiàn shì shuí dōu bù zhīdào. Nobody knows this matter.
这件事 我不感兴趣。Zhè jiàn shì wǒ bù gǎn xìngqu. I’m not interested in this matter.
这件事 最近社交网站都在谈。Zhè jiàn shì zuìjìn shèjiāo dōu zài tán. Social media are all talking about this matter these days.
4.2 Ellipsis of Sentence Elements
Chinese speakers may leave out words that are supposed to be understood, and therefore need not be spoken. Subjects and conjunctions are often omitted. For example, you may translate the English sentence If you like it, you may buy it, but if you don’t like it, you don’t have to. into the Chinese sentence 喜欢就买，不喜欢就别买。Xǐhuan jiù mǎi, bù xǐhuan jiù bié mǎi. Compare the two sentences, and you will find that some English words, such as if, you, it, and but are not translated.
4.3 Word Classes: Flexibility, No Inflection
Chinese words do not have inflections, i.e. they do not change to indicate grammatical categories. For example, the verb 做 zuò (to do) is invariably 做 zuò; there is no past form or any other inflected form of this verb. Neither do Chinese words normally have formal markers of word class. Consequently, it is rather easy for a word to be used in more than one word class. This relative flexibility in word classes, however, does not mean that Chinese does not have word classes (see Section 4.5).
4.4 Measure Words and Particles
Measure words (量词 liàngcí) and particles (助词 zhùcí) are two word classes found in Chinese but not in English and most other languages.
Measure words are usually required when a noun is modified by a numeral. For example, 两书 liǎng shū is unacceptable; you must use the measure word 本 běn between the numeral and the noun: 两本书 liǎng běn shū (two books). Furthermore, Chinese nouns require specific measure words to go with them. For example, the noun 书 shū (book) must be used with the measure word 本 běn. See List 2 Measure Words.
In Chinese grammar, particles are words attached to other words or at the end of a sentence to indicate grammatical concepts or to express emotions. For example, the particles 了 le, 着 zhe, 过 guo are attached to verbs to indicate, respectively, whether the actions denoted are completed, in progress or past experiences.
4.5 Word Classes
Following are brief explanations of the basic terms in Chinese grammar used in this dictionary. (A word of warning: it is a rather complicated matter to define grammatical terms accurately. Here we will be content with some very general but useful ideas.)
| ADJECTIVE | a describing word, a word that describes people, things or actions, typically used before a noun. |
| ADVERB | a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. |
| CONJUNCTION | a word used to link two words, phrases or sentences, indicating certain relationships between them. |
| IDIOM | a set phrase, the meaning of which cannot be readily derived from its components. |
| INTERJECTION | a word that expresses strong emotions. |
| MEASURE WORD | a word that connects a numeral to a noun. Measure words are a special feature of Chinese; a list of measure words is included in the front matter. |
| MODAL VERB | a word used before a verb to indicate necessity, possibility, willingness, etc. |
| NOUN | a naming word, a word that names people, animals, plants, things, ideas, etc. |
| NUMERAL | a word that represents a number, typically used with a noun. |
| ONOMATOPOEIA | a word that imitates the sounds of a thing or an action. |
| PARTICLE | a word used with another word, phrase, or sentence to indicate certain grammatical meanings or to express strong emotions. |
| PREPOSITION | a word used before a noun or pronoun to indicate time, place, direction, manner, reason of an action, etc. |
| PRONOUN | a word that is used in the place of a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc. |
| VERB | an action word, a word that indicates what somebody does or feels. |
5 CULTURAL AND USAGE NOTES
As a dictionary for learners rather than a mere wordlist, this dictionary goes out of its way to give essential information on cultural context, pronunciation, grammar and usage of words. For example:
lǐwù 礼物 [modif: 礼 gift + 物 thing] N gift, present (件 jiàn)
…
NOTE: Chinese modesty requires that you belittle your present, describing it as 一件小礼物 yí jiàn xiǎo lǐwù a small/insignificant gift. Upon receiving a present, it is bad manners to open it immediately. The recipient is first supposed to say 不用不用 búyòng búyòng You didn’t have to and then express thanks for the gift, describing it as 这么好的礼物 Zhème hǎo de lǐwù such a nice gift, e.g. ■ 谢谢你送给我这么好的礼物。Xièxie nǐ sònggei wǒ zhème hǎo de lǐwù. Thank you for giving me such a nice gift.
There are hundreds of such notes in the dictionary.
6 HOW TO LOOK UP A WORD IN THE DICTIONARY
6.1 By Pinyin romanization
This dictionary arranges headwords alphabetically according to pinyin. So if you know how a word is pronounced, you can find it easily, just the way you will look up an English word in an English dictionary.
6.2 By radical
Very often, however, you do not know the pronunciation of a word when you come across it in reading. In that case you can find it either by its radical or the number of its strokes.
Radicals (部首 bùshǒu) are certain component parts of characters that have been used in Chinese dictionary-making for nearly 2,000 years. Characters sharing a radical are grouped together under the heading of that radical. To find a character in a dictionary, follow these steps:
(i) In the List of radicals, look up the character’s radical according to the number of strokes in the radical. This gives a Radical Index number.
(ii) Turn to the number in the radical index
(iii) Locate the character according to the number of remaining strokes needed to write the character (i.e. number of total strokes minus radical strokes = remaining strokes). You will find the pinyin by the character.
For example, to find 活:
(i) The radical group of 活 is 氵, which has three strokes. In the List of radicals, look up 氵in the section marked “3 strokes”:
3 strokes
氵33
(ii) Turn to number 33 in the radical index.
(iii) As there are nine strokes in 活, and the radical has three strokes, six strokes remain to complete the character 活 (9 – 3 = 6). Look in the section “6 strokes” and locate 活:
6 strokes
活 huó
(iv) Turn to huó in the dictionary:
huó 活 …
6.3 By number of Strokes
Unfortunately,