Chinese Grammar Wiki (Beginner) Flashcards

Question

不 + V / 不 + Adj | verb phrase

Answer 1

Use 不 (bù) to negate verbs in the present or future.

Answer 2

To express that a verb is carried out briefly or "a little bit," you can add 一下 after it. Sometimes 一下 can soften the tone. Often, adding 一下 just makes the Chinese feel more natural.

Answer 3

In its most basic form, Chinese word order is very similar to English word order.

Answer 4

This structure expresses the continuation of an action or a circumstance.

Answer 5

"总是" is an adverb that is often translated to English as "always". It is placed before the verb that it modifies / When 总是 is used together with an adjective, you will need to add a modifier in the middle, such as "这么", "那么", "很", "特别" etc. / When the subject is put after 总是，the emphasis is on the subject itself

Answer 6

To express "even more," use 更 (gèng). It frequently comes before adjectives. / While 更 is not a substitute for 比 (the classic comparison word), the two can be used together. This expresses that "A is even more Adj. than B."

Answer 7

刚 expresses that the action happened not long ago. It's used the same way as 刚刚. / 刚 can also express "from the time an action happens until the present time".

Answer 8

Sometimes you want to say that a group of people have something in common with something else. If this is the case you'll want to use 也 (yě) and 都 (dōu) at the same time. Put 也 first!

Answer 9

差不多 (chàbùduō) can be used as an adjective or an adverb to express that aspects of one or more things are close to each other or the difference between them is small. As an adjective, 差不多 can be placed directly after the subject of the sentence and, when coupled with a 的, can modify nouns

Answer 10

The character 又 (yòu) can be used to attribute two qualities to something. Notice that as in English, the two words can't contrast in feeling. They must both be bad or both be good.

Answer 11

You may be familiar with using 太 (tài) to express "too" in the sense of "too expensive." There's a similar pattern in the negative, which just means "not very" or "not so" (literally "not too"). Note that this pattern does not normally use 了 (le). This pattern can be used with some psychological verbs (e.g. 喜欢, 想，明白)

Answer 12

多 (duō) is often used to ask about the extent of something. This is an easy way to ask "How [adjective] is [subject]?"

Answer 13

As well as with 比 and 没有, there is a third way to make basic comparisons: with 一样 (yīyàng). Rather than expressing that two things differ regarding a particular quality, 一样 is used to express that two things are the same in some way. To add an adjective into the mix, just place it after 一样. This describes Noun 1 as being as adjective as Noun 2.

Answer 14

还 (hái) can be used to indicate that something is continuing - that it's still a particular way. Often the auxiliary verb 在 will appear with 还, as it is natural to talk about continuous actions that are still happening. When you put 不 or 没 after 还 (hái) in a question sentence, it can be used to emphasize the idea of what should be happening in a more idiomatic way.

Answer 15

To say that something is "a little too ... " or "a bit too ...", 有点 or 有一点 are often used.

Answer 16

his pattern is normally used to simply express that one place is (not) close or (not) far from another place.

Answer 17

As well as asking about degree, you can also use 多 (duō) to intensify adjectives.

Answer 18

As well as continuation, 还 (hái) can also be used to weaken positive adjectives. This is similar to saying "quite" or "reasonably" in English.

Answer 19

A very common way to modify nouns is to attach an adjective to them using 的 (de).

Answer 20

As well as attaching adjectives to nouns, 的 (de) can be used to attach whole phrases to nouns. In English this is often achieved with "who" or "that", e.g. in "The man who went to Beijing" or "The book that I bought yesterday".

Answer 21

fattest, most complex, etc.) in Chinese is to use 最 (zuì) before an adjective. Occasionally you'll also see a 了 added after the adjective. This adds emphasis to the "-est."

Answer 22

Whilst 还是 is used for "or" in questions, 或者 is used for "or" in statements.

Answer 23

In this structure, we first state the result, and then give the reason in the next statement after the 因为.

Chinese Grammar Wiki (Beginner) Flashcards

(47 cards)