Grammar basics

Chinese grammar is refreshingly simple compared to European languages. Verbs don't conjugate — "eat" is the same whether I eat, you eat, or he ate yesterday. Nouns don't have gender or plural forms. There are no articles like "a" or "the". The main challenges are tones (covered separately), measure words, and the various particles that indicate tense and aspect.

Basic sentence structure

Chinese uses Subject-Verb-Object order, just like English. This makes basic sentence construction intuitive for English speakers. Unlike Japanese or Korean, you won't need to mentally rearrange word order:

• 我吃饭 (Wǒ chī fàn) — I eat rice/food
• 他喝茶 (Tā hē chá) — He drinks tea
• 她学中文 (Tā xué Zhōngwén) — She studies Chinese

Pronouns

Chinese pronouns are straightforward. "He", "she", and "it" are all pronounced the same (tā) but written with different characters. Plural pronouns just add 们 (men) to the singular form. Unlike European languages, pronouns don't change form based on their grammatical role — 我 means both "I" and "me":

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning
我	wǒ	I, me
你	nǐ	you
您	nín	you (respectful)
他	tā	he, him
她	tā	she, her
它	tā	it
我们	wǒmen	we, us
你们	nǐmen	you (plural)
他们	tāmen	they, them

Add 的 (de) for possession: 我的 (wǒ de) = my

Questions

Chinese has several ways to form questions, and they're all simpler than English (no auxiliary verbs, no word order changes). The most common method is adding the particle 吗 (ma) to the end of a statement.

Yes/No questions with 吗 (ma)

The easiest way to ask a yes/no question: take any statement and add 吗 at the end. The word order stays exactly the same:

• 你好。→ 你好吗？(How are you?)
• 他是老师。→ 他是老师吗？(Is he a teacher?)

Affirmative-negative questions

Another common question pattern: state both the positive and negative forms of the verb. This is like asking "Is it or isn't it?" and is very natural in Chinese:

• 你是不是学生？(Are you a student or not?)
• 你喜欢不喜欢？(Do you like it or not?)

Question words

Chinese question words (what, who, where, etc.) work differently from English. Instead of moving to the front of the sentence, they stay in the position where the answer would go. So "You go where?" is the natural word order, not "Where do you go?". This makes constructing questions easier once you get used to it:

Chinese	Pinyin	Meaning
什么	shénme	what
谁	shéi	who
哪里/哪儿	nǎlǐ/nǎr	where
什么时候	shénme shíhou	when
为什么	wèishénme	why
怎么	zěnme	how
多少	duōshao	how many/much
几	jǐ	how many (small numbers)

Notice how the question word occupies the same position as the answer would:

• 你叫什么名字？(You are called what name?)
• 你去哪儿？(You go where?)

Negation

Chinese has two main negation words: 不 (bù) for general negation and 没 (méi) for negating completed actions or possession. Using the wrong one is a common mistake — think of 不 as "don't/won't" and 没 as "didn't/haven't".

不 (bù) — general negation

Use 不 to negate present habits, future intentions, or states. It goes directly before the verb:

• 我不喝咖啡 (Wǒ bù hē kāfēi) — I don't drink coffee
• 他不是中国人 (Tā bú shì Zhōngguó rén) — He's not Chinese

没 (méi) — for completed actions or 有 (have)

Use 没 to negate past actions (things that didn't happen) or the verb 有 (to have). Never use 不 with 有 — it's always 没有:

• 我没去 (Wǒ méi qù) — I didn't go
• 我没有钱 (Wǒ méiyǒu qián) — I don't have money

Time expressions

In Chinese, time expressions (today, tomorrow, at 3 o'clock) come before the verb, typically after the subject. This is the opposite of English, which often puts time at the end. The pattern is: Subject + Time + Verb + Object:

• 我今天去 (Wǒ jīntiān qù) — I'm going today
• 他明天来 (Tā míngtiān lái) — He's coming tomorrow

Measure words

Chinese requires a "measure word" (also called a classifier) between a number and a noun. You can't say "two books" directly — you must say "two [volume] books". Different categories of objects use different measure words. This concept exists in English with words like "a piece of paper" or "a cup of coffee", but Chinese uses it for everything. When in doubt, use 个 (gè), the general-purpose measure word:

• 一个人 (yí gè rén) — one person
• 两本书 (liǎng běn shū) — two books
• 三杯水 (sān bēi shuǐ) — three cups of water

个 (gè) is the default/general measure word.

Expressing tense

Chinese verbs never change form — there's no past tense, no future tense, no conjugation whatsoever. Instead, Chinese uses context (time words like "yesterday", "tomorrow") and aspect particles to indicate when something happens. These particles attach to verbs to show whether an action is completed, ongoing, or experienced:

Particle	Function	Example
了 (le)	Completed action	我吃了 (I ate)
过 (guo)	Experience	我去过中国 (I've been to China)
在 (zài)	Currently doing	我在吃饭 (I'm eating)
会 (huì)	Will/can	我会去 (I will go)

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