Grammar

Chinese verbs do not conjugate, nouns do not take plurals, and nothing has a gender. What is left is word order and a set of small words that do specific jobs. These 13 points cover most of what a beginner trips over.

Sentences

是 joins nouns, and adjectives do not need it

是 means am, is and are, but only between two nouns. Adjectives work like verbs and take 很 instead.

Sentences

在 and 有

在 says where something is. 有 says that something exists, or that you have it.

Sentences

比 for comparisons

比 goes between the two things being compared, and the adjective stays exactly as it is.

Nouns

Measure words

A number cannot go straight onto a noun. A measure word goes between them.

Nouns

的 for possession and description

的 links a describer to a noun, like the English apostrophe s and more besides.

Questions

Yes or no questions with 吗

Add 吗 to the end of a statement and it becomes a yes or no question.

Questions

Question words stay where the answer goes

什么, 哪儿 and 谁 sit in the slot the answer will fill. Nothing moves to the front.

Verbs

不 and 没

Two words for not. 不 is for habits, wishes and the future. 没 is for what did not happen, and for 有.

Verbs

了 marks completion, not the past

了 after a verb says the action is finished. When it happened comes from the time word, not from 了.

Verbs

过 for things you have done before

过 after a verb means you have done it at some point in your life. It is experience, not a finished event.

Verbs

会, 能 and 可以

English has one word for can. Chinese has three, split by skill, circumstances and permission.

Verbs

得 for how well something is done

得 hooks a comment onto a verb: verb, 得, then how well it was done.

Word order

Time comes before the verb

When something happens goes early in the sentence, before the verb, never at the end.