Chinese Grammar Core Course — Core patterns
CHINESE GRAMMAR · CORE COURSE
This compact course turns the most reusable Chinese grammar patterns into a sequence you can read, say, and rebuild. Treat every example as a frame: change one word, then say the new sentence aloud.
For English speakers, the main adjustment is not basic SVO order but keeping time, place, aspect markers, and complements in their Chinese positions.
Core patterns
Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.
1. Build a sentence
Build the predicate first, then decide which information belongs before it. English lets many adverbials drift; Chinese rewards a stable frame.
- How to use it
- Underline the main verb first. Then place time and location in front of it instead of repairing the sentence after translation.
- Build it yourself
- Describe one routine in three versions: bare subject–verb–object, then add time, then add place.
- Self-check
- Can you remove one phrase and still hear a complete sentence spine?
Unit 01
Sentence frame: subject–time–place–verb–object
Chinese often keeps the action early and places time before the action. Build the short subject–verb–object spine first, then add time and place.
我明天在学校学习中文。
Meaning in context: I will study Chinese at school tomorrow.
Try it: Replace tomorrow, school, and Chinese with details from your own day.
Unit 02
Predicates: noun, adjective, and verb sentences
A noun predicate normally needs 是, while an adjective can be the predicate directly. 很 often links a neutral description rather than simply meaning “very”.
她是老师。她很忙。
Meaning in context: She is a teacher. She is busy.
Try it: Make one identity sentence and one description of a person or thing.
Unit 03
Time, place, and movement
Time usually comes before the verb; a place where an action happens normally comes before that verb too. Do not copy English post-verbal place phrases blindly.
我明天在学校学习中文。
Meaning in context: I will study Chinese at school tomorrow.
Try it: Say where you study, work, or eat and when you do it.
Unit 04
Negation: 不, 没(有), and 别
Use 不 for habits, intention, and future; use 没(有) for an action that did not happen. 别 is a direct negative request.
我不喝咖啡。昨天没喝。别着急。
Meaning in context: I do not drink coffee. I did not drink it yesterday. Do not worry.
Try it: Contrast “I do not go” with “I did not go yesterday”.
2. Describe and ask
Ask what is being described before choosing 的, 地, or 得. A question is built by leaving the answer slot open, not by turning the sentence around.
- How to use it
- Name the target of every modifier: a noun, an action, or the result after an action. Leave the question word in the answer slot.
- Build it yourself
- Make a mini catalog of four objects with number–measure-word chunks and ask a real question about each.
- Self-check
- Can you explain why 的, 地, or 得 appears where it does?
Unit 05
Questions without inversion
Question words stay in the slot where the answer would go. Yes–no questions use 吗, an A-not-A pattern, or an interrogative word; the word order does not flip.
你想吃什么？
Meaning in context: What do you want to eat?
Try it: Ask for a person, place, reason, and choice.
Unit 06
Modifiers: 的, 地, and 得
的 attaches a modifier to a noun, 地 marks the manner before a verb in formal writing, and 得 introduces a complement after a verb. First decide what is being modified.
我买的书很好看。她说得很快。
Meaning in context: The book I bought is good. She speaks quickly.
Try it: Expand one noun, one action, and one result with the right marker.
Unit 07
Numbers and measure words
A number normally needs a measure word before a noun, and 两 is common before measure words. Learn noun and measure word together as one usable chunk.
两本书，三杯茶。
Meaning in context: Two books; three cups of tea.
Try it: Count books, people, drinks, and flat objects around you.
Unit 08
Existence, location, and identification
有 introduces what exists somewhere; 在 states where a known item is; 是 identifies or classifies. Switching these changes the information focus.
桌子上有一本书。书在桌子上。
Meaning in context: There is a book on the table. The book is on the table.
Try it: Describe your desk using all three patterns.
3. Time, ability, comparison
Do not translate tense word for word. Choose whether you mean a completed event, an action in progress, a continuing state, an experience, an ability, or a comparison.
- How to use it
- Choose the viewpoint before the marker: completed event, current process, continuing state, experience, ability, or comparison.
- Build it yourself
- Retell yesterday, now, and a future plan with three different aspect or modal choices.
- Self-check
- Can you say why 不 and 没(有) are not interchangeable in your sentence?
Unit 09
Completed events with 了
了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.
我看了电影。我在看电影。我看过这部电影。
Meaning in context: I watched a film. I am watching a film. I have seen this film.
Try it: Tell two completed events from yesterday and one new situation now.
Unit 10
Ongoing, continuing, and experienced actions
在/正在 show an action in progress, 着 highlights a continuing state, and 过 marks life experience. Choose the viewpoint before choosing a marker.
门开着。他学了两年。
Meaning in context: The door is open. He studied for two years.
Try it: Make one sentence for what is happening, what remains, and what you have experienced.
Unit 11
Modal verbs and intention
会 can mean learned ability or prediction; 能 concerns practical possibility; 可以 grants permission; 想 and 要 express desire or plan. Their differences matter more than an English “can”.
我会游泳。今天不能来。
Meaning in context: I can swim. I cannot come today.
Try it: Ask permission, state an ability, and make a plan for tomorrow.
Unit 12
Comparison and degree
With 比, do not add 很 before the adjective. Use 没有 for “not as … as”, and use 一点儿 or 更 to express small or greater degree.
她比我高。这本书太贵了。
Meaning in context: She is taller than I am. This book is too expensive.
Try it: Compare two places, two people, and two prices.
4. Move information
These structures change what the listener notices first: a handled object, an affected subject, a route, a recipient, or a purpose. Keep the result visible.
- How to use it
- Look for the participant whose result matters most: the handled object, affected subject, route, recipient, or purpose.
- Build it yourself
- Give a practical instruction, report an unwanted result, and describe a trip with a purpose.
- Self-check
- Does every 把 sentence state what happened to the object?
Unit 13
Result and directional complements
A complement tells whether an action succeeded, finished, found something, or moved in a direction. It is part of the verb phrase, so keep it next to the verb.
我看懂了。请拿出来。
Meaning in context: I understood it. Please take it out.
Try it: Turn 看, 写, 找, and 拿 into completed or directional actions.
Unit 14
Duration, frequency, and repetition
Duration answers “for how long”, frequency answers “how often”, and number of times answers “how many times”. Their positions depend on whether the object is definite.
请把门关上。
Meaning in context: Please close the door.
Try it: Describe one habit and one finished activity with duration.
Unit 15
把: handling a known object
把 brings a definite, affected object before the verb and normally requires a result, location, quantity, or other outcome. It is not a decorative replacement for normal order.
我的车被朋友借走了。
Meaning in context: My car was borrowed by a friend.
Try it: Give three practical instructions with a visible result.
Unit 16
被: affected subject and passive meaning
被 foregrounds the person or thing affected, often when the result matters or is unwelcome. Chinese also frequently leaves the agent unstated.
我跟朋友从家走到学校。
Meaning in context: I walk from home to school with a friend.
Try it: Describe something that was lost, borrowed, or solved.
5. Link ideas
Use connectors to state the relationship between ideas instead of relying only on intonation. Particles then adjust how direct, shared, or tentative the utterance sounds.
- How to use it
- Say the logical relation before adding a particle. A connector should make cause, contrast, or condition recoverable on the page.
- Build it yourself
- Link six short facts into two spoken explanations and soften one request with a particle or reduplication.
- Self-check
- Can a listener identify the relation without relying on your intonation?
Unit 17
Coverbs: paths, recipients, and viewpoint
Words such as 在, 从, 到, 给, 跟, and 对 introduce the setting, path, recipient, companion, or viewpoint before the main verb. Read them as a relationship, not as isolated translations.
我去商店买水果。
Meaning in context: I am going to the shop to buy fruit.
Try it: Say who you go with, where you come from, and whom you speak to.
Unit 18
Serial verbs and purpose
Several verbs can share one subject without extra “to” or “and”: go somewhere, then do something. Keep the actions in their real-world order.
因为下雨，所以没去。
Meaning in context: Because it rained, I did not go.
Try it: Describe a trip made for a purpose and how you travel to work.
Unit 19
Connectors and logical flow
Because–therefore, although–but, and if–then pairs make the relationship visible. Do not use both halves mechanically when context already makes one clear.
你去吗？我想一想。
Meaning in context: Are you going? Let me think for a moment.
Try it: Join four short facts into two cause, contrast, and condition sentences.
Unit 20
Sentence particles and reduplication
吗, 呢, 吧, and sentence-final 了 manage questions, shared context, softening, and change. Reduplication can make a brief action or a request sound lighter.
老师明天会在教室里给我们讲这个问题。
Meaning in context: The teacher will explain this question to us in the classroom tomorrow.
Try it: Soften one request and make one short “try it” action.
6. Read, write, review
Reading and writing are the transfer test. Parse a sentence before translating it, and revise your own sentence by checking one grammatical decision at a time.
- How to use it
- Read by blocks, not by isolated dictionary words. In writing, revise word order before choosing more impressive vocabulary.
- Build it yourself
- Annotate one sentence, write a four-sentence paragraph, then correct it with a single checklist pass.
- Self-check
- Can you name the next unit you will revisit and the evidence for that choice?
Unit 21
Reading by grammatical blocks
Find the main predicate before translating. Then bracket time, place, coverb phrases, modifiers, and complements; a long sentence becomes several manageable blocks.
我明天想跟朋友去图书馆学习。
Meaning in context: Tomorrow I want to go to the library with a friend to study.
Try it: Mark the predicate and every modifier in the three reading examples.
Unit 22
Writing a controlled paragraph
Draft from a skeleton: topic, time/place, action, result, and reason. Check measure words, negation, and aspect before you add more vocabulary.
我昨天没去。她说得很快。
Meaning in context: I did not go yesterday. She speaks very quickly.
Try it: Write four linked sentences about a recent plan or outing.
Unit 23
Editing with contrasts
A strong revision asks targeted questions: 不 or 没? 的 or 得? 比 or 没有? Then read the sentence aloud for its information order.
虽然下雨，但是我还是去了学校。
Meaning in context: Although it rained, I still went to school.
Try it: Correct four deliberately mixed-up sentences in the workbook.
Unit 24
Cumulative review and diagnostic
A diagnostic should reveal a next step, not merely give a score. Rebuild the answers from meaning, mark weak patterns, and return to a single unit the next day.
我明天想跟朋友去图书馆学习。
Meaning in context: Tomorrow I want to go to the library with a friend to study.
Try it: Complete the final diagnostic without notes, then make a personal review queue.
Active recall practice
Write or say a new sentence for each pattern using your own time, place, or object.
Model reconstruction
我明天在图书馆看这本书。Wǒ míngtiān zài túshūguǎn kàn zhè běn shū. — I will read this book in the library tomorrow.