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) | 268 views

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When more than one adverb is used in a sentence, the order in which these adverbs appear is based on the general rule that the modifiers precede the word being modified.

我觉得这个电影也很好看。

Wǒ jiào dé zhè gè diàn yǐng yě hěn hǎo kàn 。

I think that this movie was also good. (Possibility: One person, more than one movie.)

我也觉得这个电影很好看。

Wǒ yě jiào dé zhè gè diàn yǐng hěn hǎo kàn 。

I also think that this movie was good.

(Possibility: One movie, more than one person.)

In rare cases when several common adverbs appear in one sentence, the following is the most acceptable word order (although note that this is not the only acceptable order):

也 + 都 + 常(常) + 只 + 一起 (常 and 只 can be switched depending on the actual situation.)

王老师:我的学生都很聪明。

Wáng lǎo shī :Wǒ de xué shēng dōu hěn cōng míng 。

Teacher Wang: All my students are smart.

李老师:我的学生也都很聪明。

Lǐ lǎo shī :Wǒ de xué shēng yě dōu hěn cōng míng 。

Teacher Li: All my students are also smart.

小王常常只喝汤,不吃饭。

Xiǎo wáng cháng cháng zhī hē tāng ,bú chī fàn 。

Xiao Wang often only has soup, but no rice.

小张和小丁也都常常只喝汤,不吃饭。

Xiǎo zhāng hé xiǎo dīng yě dōu cháng cháng zhī hē tāng ,bú chī fàn 。

Both Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li also often only have soup, but no rice.

张:我爸妈常一起去看电影。

Zhāng:Wǒ bà mā cháng yī qǐ qù kàn diàn yǐng 。

Zhang: My parents often go to see a movie together.

丁:我爸妈也常一起去看电影。

DCng: WN bàmA yL cháng yìqM qù kàn diànyMng.

Dīng:Wǒ bà mā yě cháng yī qǐ qù kàn diàn yǐng 。

[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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