Chinese auxiliaries normally occur in front of verbs. However, they are not movable. For example, the auxiliary 能 (n´eng/ to be able) in the following sentence cannot be moved:
他能說流利的中文
t¯a n´eng shu¯o li´ul`ı -de zh¯ongw´en
“He can speak fluent Chinese.”
Furthermore, an auxiliary like n´eng (能) can occur all by itself to answer a question.
Q: 你能說中文嗎？
n´ı n´eng shu¯o zh¯ongw´en ma
Can you speak Chinese?
A: 能
n´eng
“(Yes, I) can.”
Reference: Chinese: a linguistic introduction by Chao Fen Sun
