Grand Rapids, Michigan
CHAPTER ONE
Word order
(1) Basic word order
The basic word order in English is Who, What, Where, When. The basic word order in Chinese is Who, When, Where, What.
English: We ate lunch at McDonald’s at 1:00 yesterday afternoon.
Chinese: We yesterday afternoon at 1:00 at McDonald’s ate lunch.
Wǒmen zuótiān xiàwǔ yìdiǎn zhōng zài Màidāngláo chīle wǔfàn.
我们昨天下午一点钟在麦当劳 吃了午饭。
English: We saw a Chinese movie at that movie theater Saturday evening.
Chinese: We Saturday evening at that movie theater saw a Chinese movie.
Wǒmen xīngqīliù wǎnshang zài nàge diànyǐngyuàn kànle yíge Zhōngguó diànyǐng.
我们星期六晚上在那个电影院看了一个中国电影。
(2) Action and location: someone does something somewhere
English: Who, what, where, (when)
Chinese: Who, (when) where, what
English: I eat dinner at home.
Chinese: I at home eat dinner .
Wǒ zài jiāli chī wǎnfàn.
我在家里吃晚饭。
English: I study in the library.
Chinese: I at the library study.
Wǒ zài túshūguǎn niànshū.
我在图书馆念书。
(3) Action and time: when somebody does something
English: Who, what, (where) when
Chinese: Who, when, (where) what
The time WHEN something happens always comes before the verb.
English: I get up at 8:00.
Chinese: I at 8:00 get up.
Wǒ bādiǎn zhōng qǐchuáng.
我八点钟起床。
English: I eat breakfast at 8:30.
Chinese: I at 8:30 eat breakfast.
Wǒ bādiǎn bàn chī zǎofàn.
我八点半吃早饭。
(4) Word order for expressing WHEN something happened
The biggest, most general time words come first in Chinese:
English: day, month, year
Chinese: year, month, day
English: Saturday, October 1, 1949 (Founding of the PRC)
Chinese: 1949, October 1, Saturday
Yījiǔsìjiǔnián, shíyuè yíhào, xīngqīliù
1949年10月1日，星期六。
English: 8:00 a.m. on July 4, 1820 (America’s First Independence day)
Chinese: 1820, July 4, at 8:00 a.m.
Yībāèrlíngnián qīyuè sìhào, zǎoshang bādiǎn zhōng.
1820年7月4日，早上八点钟。
(5) Word order for duration of time: how long someone did something
The word order for expressing the length or duration of time is very different from expressing the time when an action occurred. Here, the length of time of an action can come at the end of the sentence, whereas this can NEVER happen with expressing WHEN something occurred.
I slept eight hours of sleep.
Wǒ shuìle bāge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí) de jiào.
我睡了八个钟头 (小时) 的觉。
OR, if you are stating the length of time you spent on various activities, in addition to sleeping:
I slept (for) eight hours.
In terms of my sleeping, I slept eight hours.
Wǒ shuìjiào shuìle bāge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí).
我睡觉睡了八个钟头 (小时) 。
Once you’ve established sleeping as your topic of conversation, then you can, of course, simply say, as we would in English:
I slept eight hours.
Wǒ shuìle bāge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí).
我睡了八个钟头 (小时) 。
Yesterday, I studied for five hours.
Yesterday, I studied five hours of books.
Zuótiān wǒ niànle wǔge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí) de shū.
昨天我念了五个钟头 (小时) 的书。
OR, if you’re enumerating the relative amount of time you spent doing various things yesterday:
I studied for five hours yesterday.
Yesterday as for my studying, I studied (for) five hours.
Zuótiān wǒ niànshū niànle wǔge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí).
昨天我念书念了五个钟头 (小时) 。
And once we’ve established “studying” as the topic of discussion, then we can simply say, as in English:
I studied (for) five hours.
Wǒ niànle wǔge zhōngtou (xiǎoshí).
我念了五个钟头 (小时) 。
However, when a length of time is given in a sentence with negation, bù 不 or méi/méiyǒu 没/没有 , then the period of time comes BEFORE the verb:
English: I haven’t slept for two days.
Chinese: I for two days have not slept.
✔ CC: Wǒ liǎngtiān méi shuìjiào le.
我两天没睡觉了。
✖ BC: Wǒ méi shuìjiào liǎngtiān.
我没睡觉两天。
Literally: I haven’t slept two days.
English: I haven’t smoked for a year.
Chinese: I for one year have not smoked.
CC: Wǒ yìnián méi xīyān le.
我一年没吸烟了。
(6) Placement of “why” in a question
The word “why?” wèishénme 为什么, is always placed AFTER the subject of the sentence, not before as it is in English (unless the speaker is being particularly emphatic and almost indignant!):
English: Why are you studying Chinese?
Chinese: You why (for what reason) are studying Chinese?
✔ CC: Nǐ wèishénme xué zhōngwén?
你为什么学中文？
English: Why didn’t she come to class?
Chinese: She why (for what reason) didn’t come to class?
✔ CC: Tā wèishénme