Chinese verbs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are two different forms of verbs in the Chinese language. The static, indicating state, and the dynamic, indicating action. The sentence changes with the different forms of verbs.
Contents |
[edit] Verb construction
The word order for Mandarin Chinese (in basic sentences) is "SVO" (subject-verb-object), much like English. Thus the sentence: "wǒ chī jī" (我吃雞, I eat chicken) has exact equivalents in the English sentence ("wǒ": I, "chī": eat, and "jī": chicken).
[edit] The present
Chinese verbs do not conjugate like the verbs of most Indo-European languages such as English or Spanish. In English, for example, the verb "to eat" has many forms compared to its Chinese equivalent: "to eat" (infinitive), "eat, eats" (present), "ate", (simple past), "eaten" (past participle), "eating" (present participle), etc. Chinese only has one basic form, used for every person and tense; thus "chī" (吃) can equal all these forms. ("tā chī" 他吃: he eats, "nǐ chī" 你吃: you eat, etc.) In other words, Chinese does not express these differences through inflectional suffixes.
[edit] The past
The simplest way of expressing past tense is to use adverbs such as "yesterday." For example: "zuótiān wǒ chī jī" (昨天我吃雞, literally: yesterday I eat chicken) is equal to saying "Yesterday I ate chicken". Another way of expressing past tense is to use the aspect particles "guò" (過) or "le" (了) , which cannot stand by themselves but can express completed actions when placed after verbs. The distinction between these and other particles can be difficult for learners to grasp. Past tense in Chinese can also be expressed by surrounding the verb and direct object with the words "shì"-"de" (是-的). For example "wǒ shì zuótiān chī jī de" (我是昨天吃雞的). This phrasing emphasizes the time in which the action took place more than the action itself.
[edit] Negation of Chinese verbs
Negation of Chinese verbs is accomplished by inserting 不, which can be interpreted roughly as "not", before the verb to be negated. For example: "wǒ bù chī jī" (我不吃雞, literally: I not eat chicken) is equal to saying "I don't eat chicken". Serial verbs and verbal complements complicate matters.
There is one exception to this rule, however. The verb "yǒu" (有 to have) is negated with the particle "méi" (沒). The past negative is made by use of "méi yǒu" 沒有 instead of "bù" 不. For example: "wǒ méi yǒu chī jī" (我沒有吃雞) "I did not eat chicken".
[edit] Verb-object combinations
The relatively restrictive phonotactics of Mandarin Chinese means that there are many homophones for some syllables. It may be to compensate for this that many commonly used verbs work in verb-object combinations. For example, 睡 (shuì) (sleep v.) and 覺 (jiào) (sleep n.) are used together as a pair to mean "sleep":
我 平常 晚上 十點 就 睡覺.
(wǒ píngcháng wǎnshang shí diǎn jìu shuì jiào.)
I normally at-night 10-o'clock PARTICLE sleep.
I usually go to bed as early as 10 o'clock at night.
[edit] Questions
While some languages like English invert the verb and subject, Chinese uses two different constructions.
[edit] The particle "ma"
This particle is placed at the very end of a basic affirmative sentence to turn it into a Yes/No question. For example:
"wǒ chī jī" (我吃雞): "I ate chicken"
"wǒ chī jī ma?" (我吃雞嗎?): "Do I eat chicken?"
[edit] The "verb-not-verb" construction
This construction is an alternative to the above. It consists of taking the verb, putting "bù" after it and then repeating the verb once more. For example:
"wǒ chī jī" (我吃雞): "I eat chicken"
"wǒ chī bù chī jī?" (我吃不吃雞?)(literally: I eat not eat chicken?) "Do I eat chicken?"
Note that for the verb-not-verb construction "yǒu" (to have) must use "méi" (沒) instead of "bù" (不).
[edit] Coverbs
A special class of verbs called coverbs take the place of prepositions or postpositions in other languages. Sometimes, these coverbs can stand alone as a verb in its own right. One example is 給 (gěi), which can be used in both manners:
Preposition-like usage:
我給你打電話.
(Wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.)
(I'll give you a telephone call.)
Verb:
請給我一杯可樂.
(Qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi kělè.)
(Please give me a glass of cola.)
[edit] External links
