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Practical Grammar of Modern
Chinese I
Pan Wenyu graduated from Peking University and taught Chinese as a foreign
language for more than 50 years. She specialized in Chinese grammar and
teaching techniques.
1 Overview 1
2 Nouns 39
3 Pronouns 75
5 Verbs 164
6 Adjectives 210
7 Adverbs 227
Bibliography 296
Index 298
Preface to the first edition (I)
In recent years, I have read several books on modern Chinese grammar, which
disappointed me for having neither clear target readers, nor practical nor theoreti-
cal benefits. Lately, Liu Yuehua gave me the manuscript of The Practical Gram-
mar of Modern Chinese, co-edited with Pan Wenyu and Gu Wei. After reading it,
I have been very pleasantly impressed by it and believe it will be beneficial for
readers.
This book is written for the teachers of Chinese as a second language, and
the students who have a basic knowledge of Chinese. In the preface, the author
says, “it is characterized by its applicability. That is to say, it shows how to use
Chinese properly through describing grammatical phenomena and grammar rules
in detail.” And, “considering the differences of learning Chinese between foreign
students and Chinese students, this book particularly explains the grammatical
problems and difficulties which cannot be easily understood or solved by foreign
students.” They match word to deed by many detailed examples as well as char-
acteristic content in the book, which is often neglected by other grammar books.
In addition, the conclusive tables for usage of different grammar functions are
also very remarkable.
The significance of this book results from the teaching experience of many
years and it will be continuously improved further in its teaching, through revis-
ing those unsatisfactory interpretations about some words or grammar structures
in the book.
I take the aforementioned as the introduction to this book.
Lü Shuxiang
June 1st, 1982
Preface to the third edition
It has been 35 years since The Practical Grammar of Modern Chinese was first
published in 1983. Since its publication, it has been well received by a large num-
ber of readers. Therefore, the revised edition was published in 2001. The editions
in other languages have also been published, such as those in Japanese, Korean,
as well as in traditional Chinese characters.
Based on the original structure and theoretical system of the edition in 2001, the
third revision began in 2016, with improvements in the following aspects:
Hopefully, the third edition of The Practical Grammar of Modern Chinese can
benefit more readers in learning and researching. Any critical opinions are hon-
estly welcome for further revision.
The authors
June, 2018
Preface to the first edition (II)
This book is mainly written for the teachers engaged in teaching Chinese as a
second language, the foreign students who have acquired a basic understanding
of Chinese, and the scholars who are interested in this field. It can also serve as
a Chinese grammar reference book for the ethnic minority students in national
colleges and universities, as well as the students majoring in Chinese and foreign
languages.
As a “practical grammar book,” it is characterized by its applicability. That
is to say, it shows how to use Chinese properly through describing grammatical
phenomena and grammar rules in detail. Therefore, besides explaining structural
features and different grammar rules, it purposely emphasizes their semantic char-
acteristics in use, so that the learners can understand what are the proper expres-
sions in certain situations and what should be the right expressions within the use
limits. Considering the differences of learning Chinese between foreign students
and Chinese students, this book particularly explains the grammatical problems
and difficulties which cannot be easily understood or solved by foreign students.
Also, this book compares the grammar phenomena frequently confused by for-
eign students, and introduces the different grammar phenomena in both written
and spoken forms. Therefore, it is more impressive for its content and explanative
ways, compared with other grammar books.
The whole process of compilation involves the following three stages: the first
one is to analyze a lot of collected examples; the second one is to arrange content
and their sequences based on the first stage; the third one is to decide the focus
of each content by observing the wrong sentences made by foreign students and
the teachers’ rich teaching experience. Moreover, the achieved research results in
the linguistic field are also taken into account in explaining language phenomena.
The first draft started in April 1978 and ended in 1979. The first revise was
from September 1979 to August 1980; the second revision was from September
1980 to January 1981; the exercises were added since March 1981, and then
the third revision was finished. The syntactic content in the book was once
mimeographed for teaching in the Beijing Language and Culture University in
August 1978, and then was sent to other colleges or research institutions for
further opinions.
The book is collectively finished by Liu Yuehua, Pan Wenyu, and Gu Wei.
Preface to the first edition (II) ix
Zhao Jingzhen once participated in some parts of the first draft and then quit
due to her job transfer.
It is a grammar book, which is systematically written based on the character-
istics of foreign students in learning Chinese. There may be some unavoidable
errors or shortcomings in the book due to less experience in writing, insufficient
research to some grammar phenomena, and incomprehensive understanding to
others’ research achievements. Therefore, any critical opinions are honestly wel-
come for further revision.
Here, many thanks are sincerely expressed to those who have helped or sup-
ported this book. Some of them are mentioned in particular. Mr. Lü Bisong offered
many suggestions since he began reading the draft; Mr. Lü Shuxiang wrote the
foreword for this book and offered his opinions after revising it; Mr. Zhou Zumo
created the title for the book. Again, heartfelt gratitude is expressed to all for what
they have done for this book.
Authors
Beijing Language and Culture University
Preface to the revised edition (2001)
This part introduces the grammar system, the grammatical items and issues of
Chinese grammar not included in the remaining parts of this book.
I. Morphemes
A morpheme is the smallest unit of pronunciation and meaning in a language as
well as the smallest grammatical unit. For example, “人 [rén] (people),” “民 [mín]
(people),” “作 [zuò] (do),” “用 [yòng] (use),” “桌 [zhuō] (table),” “葡萄 [pú táo]
(grape),” and “玻璃 [bō lí] (glass)” are the smallest meaningful and inseparable
units. “人 [rén] (people)” and “民 [mín] (people)” are monosyllabic morphemes,
which cannot be further segmented. “葡萄 [pú táo] (grape)” and “玻璃 [bō lí]
(glass)” are disyllabic morphemes and they cannot be segmented either, because
they would become meaningless if they were separated into “葡[pú],” “萄[táo],”
“玻[bō],” or “璃[lí].”
Most morphemes in Chinese are monosyllabic; a few of them are disyllabic
and tri-syllabic. Quadri-syllabic morphemes are much fewer. Since the Chinese
character is syllabic, a monosyllabic morpheme is identical to a Chinese charac-
ter in the written form, and most Chinese characters correspond to morphemes.
Of course, there are some exceptions, such as “玛 [mǎ],” “瑙 [nǎo],” “唠 [láo],”
“叨 [dāo],” “葡 [pú],” and “萄 [táo].” They are just segmented as single and
meaningless syllables from those disyllabic morphemes, such as “玛瑙 [mǎ nǎo]
(agate),” “唠叨 [láo dāo] (chatter),” and “葡萄 [pú táo] (grape),” so they are not
morphemes.
Some Chinese characters can correspond to several morphemes at the same
time, indicating different meanings, such as “把 [bǎ]” in “一把尺子 [yī bǎ chǐ
zi] (a ruler),” “把守 [bǎ shǒu] (guard),” “把门开开 [bǎ mén kāi kai] (open the
door),” “个把月 [gè bǎ yuè] (one or two months),” “把儿 [bǎ er] (handle)”; and
“生 [shēng]” in “生长 [shēng zhǎng] (grow),” “一生 [yī shēng] (a lifetime),”
“生炉子 [shēng lú zi] (light the stove),” “生病 [shēng bìng] (fall ill),” “生瓜
2 Overview
[shēng guā] (unripe melon),” “生疼 [shēng téng] (extremely painful),” and “学生
[xué sheng] (student).” Thus it can be seen that the relationship between Chinese
characters and morphemes is very complicated.
II. Words
A word is the smallest meaningful language unit that can be used independently.
This function of independence can occur in the following two ways. One way is
when a word is used alone, such as “工人 [gōng rén] (worker).”
Example 1
A: 他哥哥是干什么的? [tā gē ge shì gàn shén me de?]
(What does his brother do?)
B: 工人。[gōng rén.]
(A worker.)
“工人 [gōng rén] (worker)” is a word used alone as the response to the ques-
tion. It cannot be divided into “工 [gōng]” and “人 [rén]” because neither of them
is identical to “工人 [gōng rén] (worker).”
The other way is when a word is used by itself without being bound with other
constituents in a sentence, such as “的 [de].”
III. Phrases
A phrase is a group of words grammatically combined, carrying a certain mean-
ing. It is a unit that constructs a sentence. For example, “他的学生 [tā de xué
sheng] (his students),” “大部分 [dà bù fèn] (most),” “非洲人 [fēi zhōu rén] (Afri-
cans)” are phrases in the sentence “他的学生大部分是非洲人。[tā de xué sheng
dà bù fèn shì fēi zhōu rén.] (Most of his students are Africans.).”
A morpheme is a smaller language unit compared with a word; a phrase
is a bigger one compared with a word. Therefore, it is not easy to identify a
Overview 3
language unit theoretically or practically, due to the fact that most words in
Chinese lack morphological marks and a fair number of ancient Chinese con-
stituents still remain in the written form of modern Chinese. However, the pars-
ing of language units (a morpheme, a word, or a phrase) doesn’t influence its
practical application too much in reality, nor cause much difficulty for foreign
students in learning Chinese, if some rules of parsing sentences are defined in
Chinese teaching.
IV. Sentences
A sentence is a language unit, carrying a complete meaning with proper pauses
and a certain intonation. A sentence is considered the smallest unit of language
application. That is to say, when we talk, we speak a sentence at least.
Nouns:
桌子 [zhuō zi] (table), 国家 [guó jiā] (nation), 科学 [kē xué] (science),
明天 [míng tiān] (tomorrow), 外 [wài] (outside), 里面 [lǐ miàn] (inside),
4 Overview
Verbs:
走 [zǒu] (walk), 动 [dòng] (move), 喜欢 [xǐ huān] (like), 是 [shì] (yes),
醒 [xǐng] (wake up), 可以 [kě yǐ] (may), 应该 [yīng gāi] (should).
Adjectives:
红 [hóng] (red), 伟大 [wěi dà] (great), 胖 [pàng] (fat), 对 [duì] (right), 高兴
[gāo xìng] (happy), 自由 [zì yóu] (free).
Numerals:
一 [yī] (one), 三 [sā] (three), 十 [shí] (ten), 百 [bǎi] (hundred), 千 [qiān]
(thousand), 万 [wàn] (ten thousand), 亿 [yì] (a hundred million).
Quantifiers:
个[gè] (used before nouns that have no specific quantifier), 件 [jiàn] (piece),
斤 [jīn] (a unit of weight = 1/2 kilogram), 双[shuāng] (pair), 副 [fù] (set),
次 [cì] (time), 遍 [biàn] (time).
Pronouns:
我 [wǒ] (I), 你们 [nǐ men] (you), 每 [měi] (every), 这 [zhè] (this), 那 [nà]
(that), 怎么样 [zěn me yàng] (how).
Adverbs:
很 [hěn] (quite), 又 [yòu] (again), 都 [dōu] (all), 永远 [yǒng yuǎn] (forever),
渐渐 [jiàn jiàn] (gradually), 亲自 [qīn zì] (personally).
Prepositions:
在 [zài] (at/in), 从 [cóng] (from), 自 [zì] (from), 向 [xiàng] (toward),
于 [yú] (at/in), 给 [gěi] (for).
Conjunctions:
和 [hé] (and), 与 [yǔ] (and), 因为 [yīn wéi] (because), 虽然 [suī rán]
(although), 因此 [yīn cǐ] (therefore), 即使 [jí shǐ] (even though).
Onomatopoeic words:
砰 [pēng] (bang), 咚咚 [dōng dōng] (drumming), 轰 [hōng] (boom), 噼里啪
啦 [pī lǐ pā lā] (cracking sound), 哗哗 [huá huá] (sound of gurgling water).
Overview 5
Interjections:
唉 [āi] (alas), 哼 [hēng] (humph).
1 Coordinate relation
It means a relation of modifying and being modified between the former word
(or phrase) and the latter one. The one being modified is called the headword; the
one modifying the headword is called the modifier. For example:
3 Verb-object relation
4 Complementary relation
It refers to the relation between an action or state and then its result. Usu-
ally, the former is functioned by a predicate verb or adjective and the latter by a
complement. For example:
5 Subject-predicate relation
It refers to the relation between the doer, or the recipient of an action, and the
description or narration about it. For example:
This type is also called a word group. If there is a headword in it, the headword
identifies the type and the grammatical function of the entire phrase, such as both
“红花 [hóng huā] (red flower)” and “花 [huā] (flower)” belong to the noun or
both “高喊 [gāo hǎn] (shout loudly)” and “喊 [hǎn] (shout)” belong to the verb.
Therefore, the property of the headword decides that of the entire phrase. Usually,
the phrases consisting of notional words can be further classified into the follow-
ing four sub-types.
“的 [de]” phrase is nominal. Here are more similar examples. “蓝的 [lán de]
(blue)” may refer to something in blue, such as “衣服 [yī fu] (clothes)” and
“纸 [zhǐ] (paper).” “铁的 [tiě de] (iron)” may refer to something made of iron,
such as “箱子 [xiāng zi] (case)” and “盒子 [hé zi] (box).” “写字用的 [xiě zì yòng
de] (for writing)” may refer to stationery or furniture, such as “纸 [zhǐ] (paper),”
“笔 [bǐ] (pen),” “桌子 [zhuō zi] (desk).” However, not all the phrases with nouns
followed by “的” can be found.
Here are examples indicating the structure that consists of a modifier and the
word it modifies.
Next are examples indicating the structure that consists of a modifier and the
word it modifies.
Next is an example indicating the structure that consists of a modifier and the
word it modifies.
The grammatical function of a fixed phrase is not always identical to that of its
headword, such as “大刀阔斧 [dà dāo kuò fǔ] (boldly and resolutely).” “刀 [dāo]
(knife)” and “斧 [fǔ] (axe)” are nouns and function as the headwords in “大刀阔斧
[dà dāo kuò fǔ] (boldly and resolutely).” The entire phrase can function as an adver-
bial in a sentence, such as “他大刀阔斧地工作起来。[tā dà dāo kuò fǔ de gōng zuò
qǐ lái.] (He begins to work boldly and resolutely.)” Generally speaking, the gram-
matical function of a fixed phrase tends to get closer to a certain part of speech but
impossibly possesses all grammatical functions of this part of speech. For example,
some fixed phrases are narrative, almost similar to verbs, so they mainly function as
predicates, such as “求全责备 [qiú quán zé bèi] (demand perfection),” “弃暗投明 [qì
àn tóu míng] (forsake darkness for light),” “声东击西 [shēng dōng jī xī] (make a feint
to the east but attack in the west).” Some are descriptive, similar to adjectives so they
mainly function as predicates and attributes, such as “好大喜功 [hǎo dà xǐ gōng] (like
to do grandiose things to impress people),” “年富力强 [nián fù lì qiáng] (be in the full
vigor of life),” “光明磊落 [guāng míng lěi luò] (open and straightforward).” Some
mainly function as predicates and adverbials, such as “同甘共苦 [tóng gān gòng kǔ]
(share happiness and woe),” “同舟共济 [tóng zhōu gòng jì] (pull together in times
of trouble),” “有条不紊 [yǒu tiáo bù wěn] (in perfect order).” Some mainly function
as predicates and adverbials, such as “目瞪口呆 [mù dèng kǒu dāi] (stand aghast),”
12 Overview
“龙飞凤舞 [lóng fēi fèng wǔ] (exquisite calligraphy),” “头破血流 [tóu pò xuè liú]
(head broken and bleeding).” Some mainly function as adverbials, such as “千方百计
[qiān fāng bǎi jì] (make every attempt),” “依依不舍 [yī yī bù shě] (reluctant to part).”
Some are very similar to nouns, mainly functioning as subject and object, such as
“丰功伟绩 [fēng gōng wěi jì] (tremendous contribution),” “阳春白雪 [yáng chūn bái
xuě] (a Spring Snow—a highbrow song),” “害群之马 [hài qún zhī mǎ] (a black sheep).”
There are many fixed phrases in Chinese, which are very productive and flex-
ible in sentence-making. Proficiency in fixed phrases can improve one’s reading
ability and display a high level of Chinese ability as well.
I. Single-morpheme words
As its name implies, a single-morpheme word consists of a morpheme, mostly
with a syllable, such as “天 [tiān] (sky),” “地 [dì] (ground),” “人 [rén] (people),”
“你 [nǐ] (you),” “我 [wǒ] (I),” “他 [tā] (he),” “高 [gāo] (high),” “大 [dà] (big),”
“来 [lái] (come),” “看 [kàn] (look),” “才 [cái] (only just),” “就 [jiù] (in respect
of),” “把 [bǎ] (handle),” “被 [bèi] (by).” Sometimes, a single-morpheme word is
disyllabic, whose two syllables are completely identical, such as “奶奶 [nǎi nai]
(grandma),” “蛐蛐 [qū qu] (cricket),” “宝宝 [bǎo bāo] (baby),” “纷纷 [fēn fēn]
(one after another).” Or two syllables have the same initial consonant or com-
pound vowel, such as “辗转 [zhǎn zhuǎn] (toss about),” “参差 [cēn cī] (irregu-
lar),” “伶俐 [líng lì] (clever),” “绵延 [mián yán] (extending),” “逍遥 [xiāo yáo]
(free and unfettered),” “彷徨 [páng huáng] (hesitate).” Or two syllables are totally
different, such as “玻璃 [bō lí] (glass),” “葡萄 [pú táo] (grape),” “琥珀 [hǔ pò]
(amber),” “咖啡 [kā fēi] (coffee).” For those tri-syllabic single-morpheme words,
most of them are loanwords or transliterated words, such as “奥林匹克 [ào lín
pǐ kè] (Olympics),” “麦克风 [mài kè fēng] (microphone).” Besides, an ono-
matopoeic word is also regarded as a single-morpheme word, such as “砰 [pēng]
(bang),” “轰隆 [hōng long] (rumble),” “稀里哗啦 [xī lǐ huá lā] (rustling sound).”
1 Overlapped form
Here are examples of nouns in this form, such as “妈妈 [mā ma] (mom),” “爷爷
[yé ye] (grandpa),” “蝈蝈 [guō guo] (grasshopper),” and the second syllable is with
weak pronunciation (the light tone 轻声); but the second syllables in “悄悄儿[qiāo
qiāo er] (quietly)” and “微微 [wēi wēi] (slight)” as adverbs should be stressed.
(2) Two overlapped morphemes plus another one in front (e.g., BAA) to form
a word
(3) Two overlapped morphemes plus another one in the rear (e.g., AAB) to form
a word
Usually, the words constructed by this form are mainly nouns, such as “毛毛虫
[máo máo chóng] (caterpillar)” and “毛毛雨 [máo máo yǔ] (drizzle).” In modern
Chinese, this form is not qualified to produce a new word.
2 Derivative form
An affix before a root morpheme is named a prefix. There are a few prefixes in
Chinese. Some common prefixes are “阿 [ā],” “老 [lǎo],” “第 [dì],” “初 [chū],”
“小 [xiǎo].” The examples with these prefixes are “阿姨 [ā yí] (aunt),” “老师 [lǎo
shī] (teacher),” “老虎 [lǎo hǔ] (tiger),” “初一 [chū yī] (the beginning of New
Year),” “第 五 [dì wǔ] (the fifth),” “小孩 [xiǎo hái] (child).”
A compounded form consists of two or more than two root morphemes, which
is one of the main ways of constructing a word. A word constructed in com-
pounded form is called a compound word (or a compound). For example, “理 [lǐ]”
and “想 [xiǎng]” are two root morphemes of “理想 [lǐ xiǎng] (ideal)”; two root
morphemes “合 [hé]” and “理 [lǐ]” produce “合理 [hé lǐ] (reasonable).” Similar
examples are “英雄 [yīng xióng] (hero)” and “牛皮纸 [niú pí zhǐ] (kraft paper),”
consisting of three root morphemes.
Based on the relationship between root morphemes inside, a compound word
can be divided into a coordinate compound, a compound consisting of a modifier
and a morpheme it modifies, a verb-complement compound, a verb-object com-
pound, a subject-predicate compound, and a complex-compound.
The relationship between these two morphemes is modifying (the former) and
being modified (the latter as a key component). For example, in “手表 [shǒu biǎo]
(wrist watch),” “手 [shǒu] (hand)” modifies “表 [biǎo] (watch)” and “表 [biǎo]
(watch)” is a key component. More examples are “学校 [xué xiào] (school),”
“家长 [jiā zhǎng] (parents),” “工人 [gōng rén] (worker),” “电车 [diàn chē] (trol-
ley),” “京剧 [jīng jù] (Beijing opera),” “雪白 [xuě bái] (snowy white),” “笔者 [bǐ
zhě] (writer),” “滚热 [gǔn rè] (burning hot),” “移植 [yí zhí] (transplant),” “游击
[yóu jī] (guerrilla warfare),” “笔谈 [bǐ tán] (conversation by writing),” “鸟瞰
[niǎo kàn] (look down from above).”
Here are examples: “改善 [gǎi shàn] (perfect),” “改良 [gǎi liáng] (innovate),”
“打倒 [dǎ dào] (overthrow),” “推翻 [tuī fān] (overthrow),” “推迟 [tuī chí] (post-
pone),” “推出 [tuī chū] (launch).”
There are a few of such compounds in Chinese, such as “展开 [zhǎn kāi]
(spread).”
(6) Complex-compound
The year passed, and many more years after it, without clearing up
the mystery. We find no trace of further legal proceedings regarding
the missing gentleman, his family, or property. The fact itself
remained green in the popular 1709.
remembrance, particularly in the district to
which Sir Michael belonged. In November 1724, the public curiosity
was tantalised by a story published on a broadside, entitled Murder
will Out, and professing to explain how the lost gentleman had met
his death. The narrative was said to proceed on the death-bed
confession of a woman who had, in her infancy, seen Sir Michael
murdered by her parents, his tenants, in order to evade a debt which
they owed him, and of which he had called to crave payment on the
day of his disappearance. Stabbing him with his own sword as he sat
at their fireside, they were said to have buried his body and that of
his horse, and effectually concealed their guilt while their own lives
lasted. Now, it was said, their daughter, who had involuntarily
witnessed a deed she could not prevent, had been wrought upon to
disclose all the particulars, and these had been verified by the finding
of the bones of Sir Michael, which were now transferred to the
sepulchre of his family. But this story was merely a fiction trafficking
on the public curiosity. On its being alluded to in the Edinburgh
Evening Courant as an actual occurrence, ‘the son and heir of the
defunct Sir Michael’ informed the editor of its falsity, which was also
acknowledged by the printer of the statement himself; and pardon
was craved of the honourable family and their tenants for putting it
into circulation. On making inquiry in the district, I have become
satisfied that the disappearance of this gentleman from the field of
visible life was never explained, as it now probably never will be. In
time, the property was bought by a neighbouring gentleman, who did
not require to use the mansion as his residence. Denmill Castle
accordingly fell out of order, and became a ruin. The fathers of
people still living thereabouts remembered seeing the papers of the
family—amongst which were probably some that had belonged to the
antiquarian Sir James—scattered in confusion about a garret
pervious to the elements, under which circumstances they were
allowed to perish.