You finished this day
Daily lessons · Day 11 of 90
Putting a sentence in order
Word order
Chinese verbs never change, so word order carries almost all the grammar. Learn the one order that most sentences follow and a very large number of sentences become predictable.
Time comes before the verb
Subject, then when, then the verb. Never at the end, as English usually puts it.
Why it works
Putting the time at the end, the way English does, gives you 我去明天, which sounds as if you are travelling to a place called tomorrow. The time slot is early and fixed, and it is one of the first errors a Chinese listener notices. Say the when before the doing and you will be right almost every time. Every time word from day 9 and day 10 goes in this one slot, which is why those two days are worth more than they looked.
Place before the verb too
在 plus a place goes between the time and the verb.
Why it works
The full order is subject, time, place, verb. English does the opposite at the end of a sentence: I eat at home in the evening puts place before time, and both after the verb. Chinese front-loads the circumstances and saves the action for last, so the listener knows when and where before they learn what happened.
Big before small
Inside a time or a place, the larger unit always comes first.
Why it works
This is the single habit behind dates, addresses, times and names. A Chinese name puts the family before the individual, an address puts the country before the street, and a date puts the year before the day. Seeing them as one pattern saves you learning four separate rules.
Addresses run the other way
A Chinese address starts with the province or city and ends with the flat number, which is the reverse of a British or American one. If you are sending something, write it in Chinese order and in characters. Couriers read the characters, and an address in pinyin, however correct, cannot be typed into their system.
Carried over from earlier days
Say each one out loud before you look at the English.
Today’s words 12
Check yourself
8 questions. Get 6 right to finish the day.
Which is correct for I'm going tomorrow?
- 我明天去 wǒ míngtiān qù
- 我去明天 wǒ qù míngtiān
- 去我明天 qù wǒ míngtiān
- 明天去我 míngtiān qù wǒ
Show the answer
我明天去 wǒ míngtiān qù Time before the verb. 我去明天 sounds like going to a place called tomorrow.
Type I work in Beijing in pinyin.
Show the answer
wǒ zài Běijīng gōngzuò 在 plus the place sits before the verb.
What is the usual full order?
- subject, time, place, verb
- subject, verb, place, time
- time, verb, subject, place
- subject, verb, time, place
Show the answer
subject, time, place, verb Circumstances first, action last.
In 我晚上在家吃饭, which word is the verb?
- 吃饭 chīfàn
- 在 zài
- 晚上 wǎnshang
- 家 jiā
Show the answer
吃饭 chīfàn 在家 is the place. The verb comes at the end.
Which is the right order for eight tomorrow morning?
- 明天早上八点 míngtiān zǎoshang bā diǎn
- 八点明天早上 bā diǎn míngtiān zǎoshang
- 早上明天八点 zǎoshang míngtiān bā diǎn
- 八点早上明天 bā diǎn zǎoshang míngtiān
Show the answer
明天早上八点 míngtiān zǎoshang bā diǎn Largest unit first: day, part of day, hour.
Why is 他在家 a complete sentence with no other verb?
- 在 is itself the verb, meaning to be somewhere
- 家 is a verb
- the verb is understood and left out
- it is not a complete sentence
Show the answer
在 is itself the verb, meaning to be somewhere With a following verb, 在 marks the place instead.
How should you write a Chinese address?
- largest unit first, in characters
- smallest unit first, in pinyin
- largest unit first, in pinyin
- it does not matter
Show the answer
largest unit first, in characters Couriers type characters, not pinyin.
Type next Monday in pinyin.
Show the answer
xià gè xīngqīyī 下个 is next, 上个 is last.
Question 1 of 8
Writing practice optional
Every character from today, in the order it came up. Watch it, trace it, then write it from memory.
Press Watch to see the stroke order.
Stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi via Hanzi Writer, Arphic Public License.
Character 1 of 36
This lesson is written by an English speaker who learned Mandarin as a second language, and it is waiting on a check by a native speaker. If you spot something off, please tell us and we will fix it.