Chinese Grammar Basic - Mixed 3

Introduction

Basic Mandarin starts to click when you can recognise the sentence patterns behind everyday speech. This chapter brings together a practical mix of beginner structures that learners often meet separately but need to use together in real conversation.

You'll work through patterns from 年/月/日(号) (date structure) to 有 (existence at a place), paying attention to how word order, particles, and complements shape natural Chinese.

Themes

All Chinese Grammar Basic in This Chapter (7)

1. 年/月/日(号) (date structure) nián / yuè / rì (hào) Chinese dates follow a large-to-small order: year (年), month (月), then day (日 or 号). This is the opposite of many Western date formats an...
2. 点零分 (time with single-digit minutes) líng When telling time with minutes from 1 to 9, the word 零 (líng, 'zero') is placed between 点 and the minute number. This is similar to sayin...
3. 差 (minutes to the hour) chà The word 差 (chà) means 'lacking' or 'short of' and is used in time expressions to indicate minutes before the next hour. It is equivalent...
4. 再 (again in the future) zài The adverb 再 (zài) expresses doing something 'again' in the future or repeating an action that has not yet happened. It always refers to ...
5. 点半 (half past) bàn In Chinese time expressions, 半 (bàn) is placed directly after 点 to indicate thirty minutes past the hour. It is the standard way to expre...
6. 了 (change of state) le When placed at the end of a sentence, the particle 了 (le) signals a change of state or a new situation. It tells the listener that someth...
7. 有 (existence at a place) yǒu The verb 有 (yǒu) expresses the existence of something at a specific location. The location always comes before 有, and the thing that exis...