Lesson 4 Dialogue I Grammar

Word Order in Chinese Subject (agent of the action) Adverbial (time, place, manner, etc.) Verb Object (receiver of the action) 王朋 周末/常常 聽/听 音樂/乐 Wáng Péng zhōumò/chángcháng tīng yīnyuè 李友 明天 吃 中國菜 Lǐ Yǒu míngtiān c h ī Zhōngguó cài 高文中 昨天下午五点半 去看 外國電影 Gāo Wénzhōng zuótiān xiàwǔ wǔ diǎn bàn qù kàn wàiguó diànyǐng

Affirmative + Negative (A-not-A) Questions (II) In this type of question there can be no adverbials before the verb other than time words

你明天去不去？ Nǐ míngtiān qù bu qù? Are you going tomorrow?

她今天晚上看不看電視？ Tā jīntiān wǎnshang kàn bu kàn diànshì? Is she going to watch TV tonight?

If there is an adverbial—such as 很 (hěn, very), 都 (dōu, all), 常常 (chángcháng, often) before the verb, the 吗 type question must be used instead.

Are they all students? 他们都是學生嗎？ Tāmen dōu shì xuésheng ma? 他們都是不是學生？X Tāmen dōu shì bu shì xuésheng? X

Do you often go to the movies? 你常常看電影嗎？ Nǐ chángcháng kàn diànyǐng ma? 你常常看不看電影？X Nǐ chángcháng kàn bu kàn diànyǐng? X

Is Dr. Wang very busy? 王醫生很忙吗？ Wáng yīshēng hěn máng ma? 王醫生很忙不忙？X Wáng yīshēng hěn máng bu máng? X

If there is more than one verb, the question form applies to the first verb Do you want to dance? 你想不想跳舞？ Nǐ xiǎng bu xiǎng tiào wǔ? 你想跳不跳舞？X Nǐ xiǎng tiào bu tiào wǔ? X

Which sentence is correct? 你的同學去不去打球？ Nǐ de tóngxué qù bu qù dǎ qiú? 你的同學去打不打球？ Nǐ de tóngxué qù dǎ bu dǎ qiú?

The Conjunction 那(麼) (nà {me}, then; in that case) In a dialogue, immediately following a statement by speaker A, speaker B can often start with 那麼(么)(nà {me}), which links up the sentences by the two speakers.

A: 今天晚上没事兒。 Jīntiān wǎnshang méi shìr. We have nothing to do tonight. B: 那我們去看电影，怎麼樣？ Nàme wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng, zěnmeyàng? In that case, let’s go to see a movie. How’s that?

B: 那明天呢？ Nà míngtiān ne? Then how about tomorrow? A: 我今天很忙，不想去吃晚飯。 Wǒ jīntiān hěn máng, bù xiǎng qù chī wǎnfàn. I’m very busy today. I don’t want to go to dinner.

A: 你喜歡不喜歡吃美國菜？ Nǐ xǐhuan bu xǐhuan chī Měiguó cài? Do you like to eat American food or not? B: 不喜歡。 Bù xǐhuan. No, I don’t. C: 那我們吃中國菜，怎麼樣？ Nà wǒmen chī Zhōngguó cài, zěnmeyàng? Then let’s eat Chinese food. How’s that? D: 我也不喜歡。 Wǒ yě bù xǐhuan. I don’t like that either.

去 (qù, to go) + Action If the performance of an action involves a change of location, then this is the construction we use.

明天晚上我们去看电影。 Míngtiān wǎnshang wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng. We are going to see a movie tomorrow night.

晚上我不去跳舞。 Wǎnshang wǒ bú qù tiào wǔ. I will not go dancing tonight.

周末我去跳舞，你去不去？ Zhōumò wǒ qù tiào wǔ, nǐ qù bu qù? I’ll go dancing this weekend. Are you going?

Questions with 好嗎 (hǎo ma) To solicit someone’s opinion, we can ask 好嗎 (hǎo ma) after stating an idea or suggestion. You will also hear people say 好不好 (hǎo bu hǎo), instead of 好嗎 (hǎo ma).

我们去看電影，好吗？ Wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng, hǎo ma? We’ll go see a movie, all right?

We’ll eat Chinese food tonight, all right? 我們今天晚上吃中國菜，好嗎？ Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshang chī Zhōngguó cài, hǎo ma?

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