Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
Cover
Half Title
Routledge Modern Grammars
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
How to use this book
Glossary of grammatical terms
A note on Chinese characters
Part A Structures
1 Overview of pronunciation and Pinyin romanization
1.1 The Mandarin syllable
1.2 Pinyin romanization
2 syllable, meaning, and word
2.1 The special status of the Mandarin syllable
2.2 Multi-syllable tendency in Mandarin words
2.3 Word-specific tone changes
2.4 Change to neutral tone
2.5 Incorporating foreign words and naming foreign objects
3 The Chinese writing system: an overview
3.1 Traditional and simplified characters
3.2 The structure of Chinese characters: the radical and the phonetic
3.3 The traditional classification of characters
3.4 Character stroke order: bĭshùn
4 Phrase order in the Mandarin sentence
4.1 Basic phrase order
4.2 The position of direct and indirect objects
4.3 The position of prepositional phrases
4.4 The position of location phrases
4.5 The position of 'time when' phrases
4.6 The relative order of the 'time when' phrase and the location phrase
4.7 The position of adverbs
4.8 The position of negation
4.9 The position of duration phrases
4.10 Order within the noun phrase
4.11 Phrase order in questions
4.12 The position of aspect particles
5 Nouns
5.1 Common nouns
5.2 Pronouns
5.3 Proper nouns
6 Numbers
6.1 Mandarin numbers 0-99
6.2 Number 100 and higher
6.3 Formal characters for numbers
6.4 Ordinal numbers
6.5 Estimates and approximations
6.6 Fractions, percentages, decimals, half, and multiples
6.7 Lucky and unlucky numbers
6.8 Numbers used in phrases and expressions
6.9 - yī as a marker of sequence
6.10 Numbers that are used as words
7 Specifiers and demonstratives
zhè 'this' and nà 'that' as demonstratives
zhè, zhèi 'this/these' and nà, nèi 'that/those' as specifiers
zhèr and zhèlĭ 'here,' nàr and nàlĭ 'there'
7.4 Question words that correspond to specifiers
8 Classifiers
8.1 The structure of phrases involving classifiers
8.2 Choosing the classifier
8.3 Omission of the head noun
8.4 Classifiers that occur without a noun
8.5 Money and prices
9 Noun phrases
9.1 Modifying a noun with a specifier and/or number
9.2 Modifying a noun with all other modifiers: modification with de
9.3 Omission of the particle de
9.4 Noun modifiers in a series
9.5 Omission of the head noun
9.6 Modification with zhī
10 Adjectival verbs
10.1 Negation of adjectival verbs
10.2 Yes-no questions with adjectival verbs
10.3 Modification by intensifiers
10.4 Two-syllable preference
10.5 Comparative meaning
10.6 Superlative meaning
10.7 Adjectival verbs and comparison structures
10.8 Linking adjectival verbs
10.9 Adjectival verbs and expressions that indicate change over time
10.10 Adjectival verbs and sentence final le
11 stative verbs
11.1 Negation of stative verbs
11.2 Modification by intensifiers
11.3 Indicating completion, past time, and change of state
11.4 The equational verb shì 'be'
11.5 The equational verb xìng 'be family named'
11.6 The verb of possession and existence: yŏu 'have,' 'exist'
11.7 The location verb zài 'be located at'
12 Modal verbs
12.1 Expressing possibility: huì
12.2 Expressing ability
12.3 Expressing permission: kěyĭ
12.4 Expressing obligations
12.5 Expressing prohibitions
12.6 Grammatical properties of modal verbs
13 Action verbs
13.1 Indicating that an action is complete
13.2 Indicating that an action has been experienced in the past
13.3 Negating actions
13.4 Asking about actions
13.5 Open-ended action verbs
13.6 Change-of-state action verbs
14 Prepositions and prepositional phrases
14.1 The grammar of the prepositional phrase in the Mandarin sentence
14.2 Basic functions of prepositions
14.3 Prepositions that also function as verbs
15 Adverbs
15.1 General properties of adverbs
15.2 Adverbs with logical function: yě, dōu, hái, jiù, zhĭ, and cái
16 Conjunctions
16.1 Conjunctions that indicate an 'additive' or 'and' relationship
16.2 Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or 'or' relationship
17 Aspect
17.1 Perfective aspect
17.2 Durative aspect
17.3 Experiential aspect
17.4 A comparison of aspectual distinctions
18 Resultative verbs
18.1 Structure of resultative verbs
18.2 Action verb heads
18.3 Resultative suffixes
18.4 Resultative verbs in affirmative and negative sentences
18.5 Asking yes-no questions with resultative verbs
18.6 The potential form of resultative verbs
18.7 Resultative suffixes with figurative or idiomatic meaning
19 Directional verbs
19.1 Structure of directional verbs
19.2 Motion verbs
19.3 Directional suffixes
19.4 Sentences with directional verbs
19.5 The potential form of directional verbs
19.6 Asking yes-no questions with directional verbs
19.7 Directional verbs and directional suffixes with figurative or idiomatic meaning
20 bă sentences: The 'disposal' construction
20.1 The structure of bă sentences
20.2 Properties of the subject and object in bă sentences
20.3 Properties of the verb in bă sentences
20.4 Negation in bă sentences
20.5 Adverbs and modal verbs in bă sentences
21 The passive
21.1 The structure of the Mandarin passive
21.2 The passive and negation
21.3 Conditions for using the passive in Mandarin
21.4 Differences between the passive markers bèi, jiào, and ràng
21.5 Additional functions of ràng, jiào, and gěi
21.6 Other Mandarin structures that highlight the affected object and de-emphasize the agent
Part B Situations and functions
22 Names, kinship terms, titles, and terms of address
22.1 Names: xìngmíng
22.2 Kinship terms
22.3 Titles
22.4 Addressing others
22.5 Addressing new acquaintances and negotiating terms of address
22.6 Name cards and business cards
22.7 Addressing letters and envelopes
23 Introductions
23.1 The general format of introductions
23.2 Sample introductions
23.3 Common occupations and fields of study
24 Greetings and goodbyes
24.1 Greetings in conversations
24.2 Saying goodbye in conversations
24.3 Greetings and goodbyes in letters
25 Basic strategies for communication
25.1 Attracting someone's attention
25.2 Responding to a call for attention
25.3 Checking whether people have understood you
25.4 Indicating understanding or lack of understanding
25.5 Requesting repetition or clarification of spoken language
25.6 Asking for assistance in identifying a Chinese character
25.7 Providing information about the identification of Chinese characters
25.8 Signaling that you are following the speaker
25.9 Interrupting a speaker
25.10 Using fillers
25.11 Formal development of a topic
26 Telecommunications and e-communications: telephones, the internet, and faxes
26.1 Making and receiving phone calls; sending and receiving faxes and email messages
26.2 Dialing a number and entering a number
26.3 Using the internet
26.4 Telephone etiquette
26.5 Writing and reciting phone numbers and fax numbers
27 Negating information
27.1 Negation of verbs and verb phrases
27.2 The relative order of negation and adverbs
27.3 Words that occur with negation
27.4 bù in resultative and directional verbs
27.5 Literary markers of negation: wú and fēi
28 Asking questions and replying to questions
28.1 Yes-no questions
28.2 Asking for agreement
28.3 Choosing between alternatives with háishi 'either-or' questions
28.4 Rhetorical questions
28.5 Follow-up questions with ne
28.6 Content questions
29 Expressing identification, possession, and existence
29.1 Expressing identification
29.2 Expressing possession
29.3 Expressing existence
30 Describing people, places, and things
30.1 Equational sentences: identifying or describing the subject with a noun phrase in the predicate
30.2 Describing the subject with a predicate that is an adjectival verb
30.3 Identifying or describing a noun with a modifying phrase
30.4 Asking questions about the attributes of a person, place, or thing
30.5 Describing an item in terms of the material that it is made of
30.6 Describing nouns in terms of attributes that imply comparison
30.7 Describing people in terms of age
30.8 Describing the weather
30.9 Talking about illness and other medical conditions
31 Describing how actions are performed
31.1 Describing the general or past performance of an action with a manner adverbial phrase
31.2 Asking about the performance of an action
31.3 Describing the performance of an entire action with an adverbial modifier
32 Indicating result, conclusion, potential, and extent
32.1 Indicating the result or conclusion of an action with resultative verbs
32.2 Indicating the ability to reach a conclusion or result: the potential infixes de and bu
32.3 Summary of the functions of resultative verbs
32.4 Indicating the ability to perform the verb: the potential suffixes deliăo and buliăo
32.5 Resultative suffixes with special meanings or properties
32.6 Indicating the extent or result of a situation
33 Making comparisons
33.1 Similarity
33.2 Difference
33.3 More than
33.4 Less than
33.5 Comparative degree
33.6 Superlative degree
33.7 Relative degree
34 Talking about the present
34.1 Time expressions that indicate present time
34.2 Using zài and zhèngzài to indicate ongoing actions in present time
34.3 Using the final particle ne to indicate ongoing situations in present time
34.4 Using zhe to emphasize ongoing duration or an ongoing state in the present time
34.5 Indicating present time by context
34.6 Negation in present time situations
34.7 Talking about actions that begin in the past and continue to the present
34.8 Describing situations that are generally true
35 Talking about habitual actions
35.1 Expressing habitual time with the word mĕi 'every/each'
35.2 Expressing habitual time with tiāntiān and niánnián
35.3 Adverbs that describe habitual action
36 Talking about the future
36.1 Time words that refer to future time
36.2 Adverbs that refer to future time
36.3 Indicating future time with the modal verb huì
36.4 Verbs that refer to the future
37 Indicating completion and talking about the past
37.1 Marking an action as complete: perfective aspect le
37.2 Talking about sequence with perfective le
37.3 Indicating that an action did not occur in the past
37.4 Asking whether an action has occurred
37.5 Indicating that an action occurred again in the past: yòu verb le
37.6 Talking about past experience: verb suffix guo
37.7 Comparing the aspect markers guo and le
37.8 Time words and adverbs that refer to past time
37.9 Focusing on a detail of a past event with shì ... de
38 Talking about change, new situations, and changing situations
38.1 Indicating that a situation represents a change
38.2 Comparing sentences with and without sentence final le
38.3 Indicating change over time
38.4 Nouns and verbs that express change
39 Talking about duration and frequency
39.1 Specifying the length of an action with a duration phrase
39.2 Emphasizing ongoing duration
39.3 Indicating the ongoing duration of a background event
39.4 Indicating frequency
40 Expressing additional information
40.1 yĕ 'also'
40.2 hái 'in addition, also'
40.3 hái yŏu 'in addition'
40.4 bìngqiě 'moreover
40.5 zài shuō 'besides, moreover, to put it another way'
40.6 ér 'and, but'
40.7 hé and gēn 'and'
40.8 bùdàn ... érqiĕ... 'not only ... but also ...'
40.9 yòu ... yòu ... 'both ... and ...'
40.10 chúle ... yĭwài 'besides ...'
40.11 lìngwài 'in addition,' '(an)other'
41 Expressing contrast
41.1 Expressing contrast with paired connecting words
41.2 Adverbs that indicate contrast
41.3 Qualifying a statement with an adjectival verb or stative verb
42 Expressing sequence
42.1 Expressing the relationship 'before'
42.2 Expressing the relationship 'after' in a single sentence
42.3 Indicating that one event happens first and another event happens afterwards
42.4 Indicating 'afterwards' in a separate sentence
42.5 Comparing yĭqián 'before' with yĭhòu 'after'
43 Expressing simultaneous situations
43.1 Indicating that one situation is the background for another situation
43.2 Indicating that two actions occur at the same time
43.3 Indicating that two actions occur in the same time frame
43.4 Describing a subject in terms of two qualities that exist at the same time
43.5 Indicating that a situation is reached at a specific point in time
43.6 Presenting simultaneous situations
44 Expressing cause and effect or reason and result
44.1 Expressing cause and effect or reason and result in a single sentence
44.2 Introducing the cause or reason
44.3 Introducing the effect or result
44.4 Inquiring about cause or reason
45 Expressing conditions
45.1 'If ... then' conditional sentences
45.2 'even if'
45.3 'as long as'
45.4 'only if,' 'unless'
45.5 'otherwise'
46 Expressing 'both,' 'all,' 'every,' 'any,' 'none,' 'not any,' and 'no matter how'
46.1 Expressing 'both' and 'all'
46.2 Expressing 'none'
46.3 Expressing 'every'
46.4 Expressing 'every,' 'any,' 'not any,' and 'no matter how' with question words
47 Expressing location and distance
47.1 Location
47.2 Indicating that an object exists or does not exist at a location
47.3 Using location as a description
47.4 Talking about distance
47.5 Asking about distance
48 Talking about movement, directions, and means of transportation
48.1 Talking about 'going' and 'coming'
48.2 Talking about turning
48.3 Talking about crossing
48.4 Talking about arriving
48.5 Talking about means of transportation
48.6 Asking about locations and asking for directions
48.7 Asking for and giving directions: sample conversations
48.8 Talking about directional movement
49 Talking about clock time and calendar time
49.1 Clock time
49.2 Calendar time
50 Expressing obligations and prohibitions
50.1 Expressing obligations
50.2 Expressing prohibitions: must not, should not
51 Expressing commands and permission
51.1 Commands
51.2 Permission
52 Expressing ability and possibility
52.1 Expressing ability
52.2 Expressing possibility
53 Expressing desires, needs, preferences, and willingness
53.1 Expressing desires
53.2 Expressing needs
53.3 Expressing preferences
53.4 Expressing willingness
54 Expressing knowledge, advice, and opinions
54.1 Expressing knowledge
54.2 Advice and opinions
55 Expressing fear, worry, and anxiety
55.1 Expressing fear of something
55.2 Expressing nervousness or anxiety
55.3 Indicating that something is scary
55.4 Indicating that something scares someone
56 Expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives
56.1 Interjections
56.2 Sentence final particles
57 Topic, focus, and emphasis
57.1 Introducing a topic
57.2 Focus
57.3 Emphasis
58 Guest and host
58.1 Welcoming the guest
58.2 Offering food and drink
58.3 Inviting the guest to get comfortable
58.4 Saying goodbye and seeing the guest off
58.5 Additional expressions involving guest and host
59 Giving and responding to compliments
59.1 Cultural conventions regarding praise
59.2 Expressions used in deflecting praise
59.3 Compliments and appropriate responses
60 Expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction
60.1 Expressing satisfaction
60.2 Expressing dissatisfaction
61 Expressing gratitude and responding to expressions of gratitude
61.1 Expressing gratitude
61.2 Replying to expressions of gratitude
62 Invitations, requests, and refusals
62.1 Invitations
62.2 Requests
62.3 Refusals
62.4 Abandoning a request
63 Expressing apologies, regrets, sympathy, and bad news
63.1 Apologies and regrets
63.2 Expressing sympathy
63.3 Conveying bad news
64 Expressing congratulations and good wishes
64.1 General expressions of congratulations and good wishes
64.2 Fixed phrases of congratulations and good wishes for special events
64.3 Replying to expressions of congratulations and good wishes
Index
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →