2.1: Basic sentence order

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In its most basic form, Chinese word order is very similar to English word order. These similarities definitely have their limits, though; don't expect the two languages' word orders to stay consistent much beyond the very basic sentence orders outlined below.

Subject-Predicate

A simple predicate can be just a verb. The most basic word order in Chinese is:

Structure

Subj. + Verb

You can form very simple sentences with just two words.

Examples

Subject	Verb	Translation
你们Nǐmen	吃。chī.	You eat.
他Tā	笑。xiào.	He laughs.
我Wǒ	读。dú.	I read.
你Nǐ	去。qù.	You go.
你们Nǐmen	看。kàn.	You look.
你Nǐ	来。lái.	You come here!
我Wǒ	说。shuō.	I speak.
孩子Háizi	哭。kū.	Children cry.
谁Shéi	要学？yào xué?	Who wants to study?
谁Shéi	想玩？xiǎng wán?	Who wants to play?

Subject-Verb-Object

A slightly longer predicate might be a verb with an object. A sentence with both a verb and an object is formed with this structure:

Structure

Subj. + Verb + Obj.

This is the same as in English, and is commonly referred to as SVO word order. You can express a huge variety of things with this simple structure.

Examples

Subject	Verb	Object	Translation
他们Tāmen	吃chī	肉。ròu.	They eat meat.
你Nǐ	喝hē	茶吗？chá ma?	Do you drink tea?
我Wǒ	去qù	学校。xuéxiào.	I go to school.
他Tā	说shuō	中文。Zhōngwén.	He speaks Chinese.
你Nǐ	喜欢xǐhuan	孩子吗？háizi ma?	Do you like kids?
我们Wǒmen	要买yào mǎi	电脑。diànnǎo.	We want to buy a computer.
你们Nǐmen	想吃xiǎng chī	中国菜吗？Zhōngguó cài ma?	Do you want to eat Chinese food?
我Wǒ	爱ài	你和爸爸。nǐ hé bàba.	I love you and dad.
他们Tāmen	要做yào zuò	什么？shénme?	What do they want to do?
你Nǐ	想去xiǎng qù	什么地方？shénme dìfang?	What place do you want to go to?

When Things Get Tricky

Despite the convenient word order similarities highlighted above, things start to break down as soon as you start adding in such simple sentence elements as the "also" adverb 也 (yě), a time word, or a location where something happened.

Don't worry; the more complicated Chinese structures aren't hard, they're just different! (If Chinese word order were really the same as English word order, that would be just a little too convenient, wouldn't it?)

Subject-Predicate

Structure

Examples

Subject-Verb-Object

Structure

Examples

When Things Get Tricky

See also