Mandarin Chinese word order

Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs are also known as helper verbs. English is full of them, and so is Mandarin. In Mandarin, auxiliary verbs are placed before the main verb just as they are in English. Some more examples, with the auxiliary verb colour coded in purple. 她 会说中文。 Tā huì shuō zhōngwén. She can speak Chinese. 他们 可以帮助你。 Tāmen kěyǐ bāngzhù nǐ. They can help you.Negation
English is a bit funny about negation. It doesn’t like negating main verbs, so if there isn’t an auxiliary verb it will insert one and negate that. In Mandarin you can just negate the main verb (negation colour coded in pink): 我 不喜欢他。 Wǒ bù xǐhuan tā. I don’t like him. 他们 不吃肉。 Tāmen bù chī ròu. They don’t eat meat. 她 不喝咖啡。 Tā bù hē kāfēi. She doesn’t drink coffee. When there is an auxiliary verb, Mandarin prefers to negate that. Some examples: 他们 不会说中文。 Tāmen bù huì shuō zhōngwén. They can not speak Chinese. 她 不要去。 Tā bùyào qù. She will not go. 我 不应该告诉你。 Wǒ bù yìng gāi gàosu nǐ. I should not tell you. Note how in English the negation occurs after what’s being negated, whereas in Chinese it comes before. This is because of a general rule in Chinese: modifiers precede what they modify .
Common conjunctions
和 (hé): and – 和 can only link words and phrases, not sentences Example:她喜欢茶和咖啡。 | tā xǐhuan chá hé kāfēi | She likes tea and coffee. |
我想买一瓶橙汁或一瓶苹果汁。 | wǒ xiǎng mǎi yī píng chéngzhī huò yī píng píngguǒzhī. | I would like to buy a bottle of orange juice or apple juice. |
我想出去跳舞或者在家看电视. | wǒ xiǎng chūqù tiàowǔ huòzhě zài jiā kàn diànshì. | I would like to go dancing or to stay at home and watch TV. |
你喝茶还是咖啡? | nǐ hē chá háishì kāfēi? | Do you drink tea or coffee? |
如果我有钱,我就买一辆新车。 | rúguǒ wǒ yǒuqián, wǒ jiù mǎi yī liàng xīn chē | If I had money, I would buy a new car. |
我喜欢听流行音乐,可是我朋友喜欢听古典音乐。 |
wǒ xǐhuān tīng liúxíng yīnyuè, kěshì wǒ péngyou xǐhuān tīng gǔdiǎn yīnyuè. |
I like listening to pop music, but my friend likes listening to classical music. |
我学中文,因为我要去中国旅行。 | wǒ xué zhōngwén, yīnwèi wǒ yào qù zhōngguó lǚxíng. | I am studing Chinese because I want to go and travel in China. |
她太忙了, 所以不出去跳舞。 | tā tài máng le, suǒyǐ bù chūqù tiàowǔ. | She is very busy, therefore she can’t go out dancing. |
虽然他很忙, 他还是邀请我们去他家。 | suīrán tā hěn máng, tā háishì yāoqǐng wǒmen qù tā jiā. | Although he is very busy, he has invited us to his home. |
除了北京以外,我没去过其他地方。 | chúle běijīng yǐwài, wǒ méi qù guò qítā dìfang. | Apart from Beijing I have not been to any other places. |
如果你想看电视,我们就呆在家里。 | rúguǒ nǐ xiǎng kàn diànshi, wǒmen jiǔ dāi zài jiā lǐ. | If you want to watch TV, we can stay at home. |
Adverbials: time, manner and place
The structure is getting a little more complicated now. Words that add information about the verb such as time, manner and place are known as adverbials. In Mandarin these nearly always come before the verb. This is different to English which tends to put them all over the place depending on the situation. Another difference between the two languages is that Mandarin has a specific order for this extra information: time first, then manner and then place. This sequence is a general rule. Some examples with adverbials in turquoise: 我 明天要去上海。 Wǒ míngtiān yào qù shànghǎi. I will go to Shanghai tomorrow. 他 慢慢地吃饭。 Tā màn man de chī fàn. He eats slowly. 你 在这里等我。 Nǐ zài zhèlǐ děng wǒ. Wait for me here. 我 今天下午用电邮发。 Wǒ jīntiān xiàwǔ yòng diànyóu fā. I will send it by email this afternoon. 我们 意外地在箱子里找到了一只猫。 Wǒmen yìwàide zài xiāngzi lǐ zhǎodàole yī zhī māo. We unexpectedly found a cat in the box. 我 上个星期匆匆地在我的房间里看了四本书。 Wǒ shàng gè xīngqí cōngcōngde zài wǒ de fángjiān lǐ kànle sì běnshū. Last week I quickly read four books in my room.Complements
Complements are a tricky topic in grammar. Mandarin has a few kinds of special complements that come after the verb: directional, degree, result and potential. The grammar of these is pretty complicated. The main point in terms of word order is that they occur after the verb. Some examples with complements marked in orange: 我 会下来。 Wǒ huì xiàlái. I will come down. 他 说得很好。 Tā shuō de hěn hǎo. He speaks well. 我 看到了他。 Wǒ kàndàole tā. I saw him. 她 听得懂。 Tā tīng dé dǒng. She understands.A note on adjectives
Adjectives are placed before what they modify, as in English. This follows the general Chinese rule of modifiers preceding what they modify.