{"id":15815,"date":"2020-01-10T07:34:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T07:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/chinese-grammar-how-to-form-a-ba-sentence\/"},"modified":"2020-01-10T07:34:15","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T07:34:15","slug":"chinese-grammar-how-to-form-a-ba-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/mm\/chinese-grammar-how-to-form-a-ba-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese grammar: How to form a \u628a sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tBasic \u628a sentences<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tA basic sentence in Mandarin is formed with a subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, as in English:<\/p>\n

M\u0101o ch\u012b diào le j\u012bn yú.
\t\u732b \u5403 \u6389 \u4e86 \u91d1\u9c7c\u3002<\/div>\n
The dog ate the goldfish.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

\tA \u628a sentence shakes things up a bit, and you get this structure:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\tSo you now have SOV word order: \t<\/p>\n

M\u0101o b\u01ce j\u012bn yú ch\u012b diào le.
\t\u732b \u628a \u91d1\u9c7c \u5403 \u6389 \u4e86\u3002<\/div>\n
The dog ate the goldfish.<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

\tYou might notice that the character \u6389 occurs after the verb in these two sentences. This is no accident! This is because \u628a sentences are used for describing in some detail what happened to the object. In other words, the verb alone is not enough; there always has to be something else after the verb.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\tThis is often described as the disposal of the object, which might sound a bit fancy but we'll use it for convenience here. As well as the verb, you need to provide more information related to the action (in this case, that it was completed). In the example above \u6389 indicates this 'disposal'.<\/p>\n

\tThe idea of disposal will be covered in more detail below. For now, just remember that a \u628a sentence must describe what happened to the object in the end (beyond just what the verb tells you by itself). One way of thinking about the pattern which may be useful is that using \u628a is similar to saying "What I did with … was … " or "What happened to … was …."<\/p>\n

\tAnother important rule for using \u628a sentences is that they have to be about something specific or definite. The object has to be something that is clear in the context, and known to both speaker and listener.<\/p>\n

\tNegating \u628a sentences<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tTo negate a \u628a sentence, insert \u4e0d (present or future) or \u6ca1\u6709 (past) directly in front of \u628a. You can't put it after \u628a, 'inside' the \u628a construction, as this would break the rule about describing what happened to the object. It would be like saying "What happened to … was nothing". It doesn't sound natural.<\/p>\n

\tQuestion forms of \u628a sentences<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tYou can make \u628a sentences into questions in the usual three ways to form questions in Mandarin:<\/p>\n

\tWith a question particle
\tWith a question word
\tWith positive-negative verbs<\/p>\n

\tSome examples: \t<\/p>\n

N\u01d0 b\u01ce n\u01d0 de sh\u01d2u j\u012b nòn\u0261 di\u016b le m\u0251?
\t\u4f60 \u628a \u4f60\u7684 \u624b\u673a \u5f04 \u4e22 \u4e86 \u5417\uff1f<\/div>\n
Did you lose your phone?<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

\tBe careful how you form questions with \u628a sentences though. Remember that you have to have a definite object, and you have to describe the disposal of that object. A question form could easily get in the way of one of these conditions.<\/p>\n