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) | 199 views

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Simple verbs, compound verbs or verbal phrases.

It should be noted that a sentence with a simple verb as its predicate rarely appears without at least one other element, such as a particle or a time phrase. When it does appear without another element, it is usually in context.

(Situation: Wang is throwing a party. Li and Zhang are talking about it.)

李:你们去吗?

Lǐ:Nǐ men qù ma ?

Li: Are you (plural) going?

张:我去;我女朋友不去。

Zhāng:Wǒ qù ;wǒ nǚ péng yǒu bú qù 。

Zhang: I am going; my girlfriend is not.

妈妈:昨天的晚会,你跟妹妹表演了什么节目?

Mā mā:zuó tiān de wǎn huì,nǐ gēn mèi mèi biǎo yǎn le shí me jiē mù?

Mother: What did you and your younger sister perform at yesterday’s evening party?

儿子:我唱歌,她跳舞。

ér zǐ :wǒ chàng gē ,tā tiào wǔ 。

Son: I sang; she danced.

 (唱歌 and 跳舞 are both compound verbs.)

我喜欢李小姐;李小姐不喜欢我。

Wǒ xǐ huān lǐ xiǎo jiě;lǐ xiǎo jiě bú xǐ huān wǒ。

I like Miss Li; Miss Li does not like me.

(喜欢李小姐 and 不喜欢我 are verbal phrases.)

[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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1,614 questions
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207 comments
15,645 users