City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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asked Feb 2, 2021 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by Ariel (34,480 points) | 177 views

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Words and phrases that function as nouns, pronouns, proper nouns, numerals, adjectives or verbs can serve as the subject.

王老师:你的学生真聪明。

Wáng lǎo shī:nǐ de xué shēng zhēn cōng míng 。

Teacher Wang: Your students are really smart.

 (你的学生 is a noun phrase.)

张老师:聪明没有用,努力最重要。

Zhāng lǎo shī :cōng míng méi yǒu yòng ,nǔ lì zuì zhòng yào 。

Teacher Zhang: Being smart is of no use; being hard-working is most important.

(聪明 and 努力 are adjectives.)

[1] Yip, P. C., Rimmington, D., Xiaoming, Z., & Henson, R. (2009). Basic Chinese: a grammar and workbook. Taylor & Francis.

[2] Teng, W. H. (2016). Yufa! A practical guide to Mandarin Chinese grammar. Taylor & Francis.

answered Feb 2, 2021 by Ariel (34,480 points)

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1,613 questions
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15,645 users