Skip to main content

Confusing Chinese Structures

 Confusing Chinese Structures

As any other language, Chinese also has a complex grammar. Of course, come structures are easier than others. In this post, you'll see a lot of confusing grammar structures that are part of an intermediate learner coursework. Also, this structures are not based of the HSK, instead they are based on the GoChinese Series. If you want to learn more about these books, click here.

What makes these structures hard?

These structures are complicated, because they do not have a translation to English, nor there are similar to any other structure in Spanish. Depending on your mother tongue, you might be able to assimilate them a bit faster.

Furthermore, This is a clear example of why when learning a language, it is important to focus on the meaning things have, instead of simply translating everything. As in the future, this will make your language learning path a lot smoother and less confusing.

Grammar structures:

原來...啊

This structure is used to indicate that you have discover or come to the knowledge of something new and unknown. It has a connotation of being surprised about this discovery. In this case, 原來 is like 本來 both of them can be directly translated as: originally. Meanwhile, the character 啊 is used to add emphasis to the phrase.

This structure is often used as 原來 + Subject + Verb + Complement + 啊 + 。/!

*Also, when we are talking about something that you have come to know the verb 知道 it is not used, as it is implied in the structure that you didn't know about it.

Situation 1+ 還是 +´Situation 2 +最重要

This structure is quite hard as there is not an exact translation, but its meaning is something like: is this.. more important or is .... more important. 

The most common used is when someone is complaining or gave two different points. Then, the other person would respond: is ... or ... more important. The structure does not explicitly say which is more important, but the rule say that the second situation is the one which is more important.

Rhetoric Questions

These structures are not really complicated as they are written just like any question, but what is actually  hard is to identify that they are not a real questions, instead they are rhetoric. 

怎麼可以.... 呢？ How can you ... ? 

In this case the speaker is often mad about something you did, and they are not asking you how did you do it, instead it means something more like How do you dear to ...

Example: 你怎麼可以拿別人的東西呢？

*In this structure 呢 can be omitted, but it is used to not be so harsh 

Situation + 的時候，(我)不是+ Action + 嗎?

This structure is used to say that at a certain time or situation, you did a certain action. Its like when I ...did I .... 

Example: 昨天下的時候, 我不是把書拿給你了嗎？ yesterday after class didn't I have you the book? In this question, the speaker is certain that he or she gave it back and it is helping the other person remember what actually happened. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is going on with the 把 structure ?

The 把 structure The reason behind why you need he 把 structure The 把 structure is mostly used to add emphasis, the emphasis is added in the verb/result as it changes their usual position. This structure can be quite confusing, because in most western languages we don't have a structure that is remotely similar, so there is not a direct translation.  Even though this structure is quite hard, it's also really important, in my opinion it is fundamental. In addition, you will encounter this structure early on in your language journey. In my case I learned this structure in the GoChinese 400, and I'm also I'm pretty sure it's part of the HSK 3 coursework. What is the infamous 把 structure?  This structure is quite strict, from what I have learned up to now, the 把 structure never changes. It always follows its original pattern, which is : Subject+把+Object+Verb+ Result   The main uses of the 把 structure: 1)To emphasize that an action has finished Subject+把+Object+Verb+好了/忘了 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

有面子什麼意思?

 The meaning of "Have face"  You probably have heard the question 你有沒有面子? or some variation of it. This expression is really popular, and it's often used in TV shows, videos, movies, etc. The direct translations of 面子 is face, but in most cases that's not the meaning that they are referring to. In most cases this expression refers to someone's reputation, honor or pride. But depending on the situation, the meaning can slightly change.  Common Phrases  To care about your reputation / have a reputation   - 有面子 : To have a reputation. This reputation has been giving to you because of the power you hold or your place in society.  -面子很大 : To be well respected by people (have a big reputation). Usually this expression refers to someone that's famous, rich or simply someone that's perceived positively by people. -愛面子 ： Someone who really cares about their reputation and they are constantly trying to protect it.  -要面子 : Someone who is constantly protecting th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Manhuas, a game changer for improving your reading

How to use Manhuas to practice Chinese Improving your reading skills There are many ways to improve your Chinese skills, but when it comes to reading it's all about practice and constant immersion in the Chinese language, there are a lot of different resources that you can try like: books, articles, newspapers but the one I'm going to be focusing on this blog is practicing your reading through Manhuas (which are basically comics). Where can you find Manhuas? So there are a lot of different places where you can find them, for example if you want a physical copy you can find some on Amazon, but there's not a lot of variety, so the best options will be to read them online: there are some platforms that you can use for example: bilibili 漫画  or Webtoon , these two are both web platforms and Apps, so you can use them in the format that you prefer.  They are both free and quite easy to use, they quite similar, but the content in each one is quite different, another thing that is...
Post a Comment
Read more