A2 Grammar

Knowing how to use the topic-comment structure in Chinese is incredibly important. The structure has many more uses than most people give it credit for, even if it is already considered to be one of the most basic principles to follow when forming Chinese sentences.   And today you’re going to learn all about it. This article will …

How to Use Topic-Comment Structure in Chinese (Clear Explanation with Examples) Read More »

If you are looking to build a solid foundation in Mandarin Chinese grammar, or simply want to have a basic understanding of how the Chinese language works, you’ve come to the right place.   As one of the world’s biggest websites about learning Chinese, we’ve helped thousands of people improve their grammatical skills, and speak …

Chinese Grammar 101: Ultimate Guide for Overwhelmed Beginners Read More »

Mandarin Chinese and English have the same basic sentence pattern ‘subject-verb-object’, AKA ‘S-V-O’. But when it comes to using two or multiple verbs in one sentence, Chinese works somewhat differently. In this article, we’ll look at how to connect different verbs in a Chinese sentence, and we’ll also talk about a common mistake that many …

How to Connect Two or Multiple Verbs in Chinese? The Beginner’s Guide Read More »

应该 (yīnggāi) is one of the most important modal verbs in Chinese. In many ways, it works like the English word “should”, but still there is some difference, which could be somewhat confusing for Chinese beginners. Have no fear if that happens to be your case. In this post, you’ll learn how to say “should” in Chinese …

Expressing ‘Should’ in Chinese with 应该 (yīnggāi): The Essential Guide Read More »

One of the first phrases you might want to pick up in Mandarin Chinese is: I don’t understand. Learning to say “I don’t understand” is actually quite simple, but because of the way this phrase can be used in different contexts, learning its direct translation is not enough. We also need to learn the various ways …

Beyond ‘Ting Bu Dong’: 11 Better Ways to Say I Don’t Understand in Chinese Read More »

The adverb 真 (zhēn) is one of the most basics words in Mandarin Chinese. It corresponds to “really” or “truly” in English and is often used before adjectives and verbs to intensify the degree. In this post, we’ll look at how to use 真 (zhēn) to express exclamation in Chinese. Afterward, we’ll explore the differences between 真 (zhēn), 很 (hěn), 非常 (fēicháng) and 真的 (zhēn de) which …

Expressing Exclamation in Chinese with 真 (zhēn): A Quick Guide Read More »

离 (lí) is considered one of the core, ‘basic’ words in Chinese. The way it works might not seem too intuitive to an English speaker. And no wonder: the concept of 离 (lí) barely exists in English, and to use it correctly, you need to resort to a seemingly twisted sentence structure. But let’s try to make it less …

Expressing Distance with 离 (lí) in Chinese: Everything You Need Read More »

又 (yòu)…又 (yòu)… is considered one of the most essential, “basic” patterns in Chinese grammar. It’s included in pretty much every Chinese textbook and course. That’s because it’s really common in daily conversation and super useful! It can be used to express “both A and B” or “both do A and do B”, depending on what comes after it …

又 (yòu)…又 (yòu)… Structure in Chinese: All You Need to Know Read More »

It’s quite common to do be doing more than one active task at once. In fact, this should be something you do often if you want to improve your Chinese, simply try to listen to Chinese audio while doing other things! That’s not what we are going to talk about in this post, though. Instead, we’re going …

一边…一边… (yìbiān…yìbiān…): The Complete Guide to Expressing Multitasking in Chinese Read More »

“When I become a rich guy, I’ll…” Yeah, keep dreaming. We are not going to teach you how to become a millionaire here, but at least at the end of this article, you’ll know how to say it in Chinese among other things, with the super useful time expression …的时候 (de shíhou). Sounds good? Let’s dig …

Expressing When in Chinese with 的时候 (de shíhou): The Complete Guide Read More »