Tag: Chinese Grammar

A common way to form questions in Chinese is to first use a verb in the positive, then repeat the same verb in its negative form. These are called "affirmative-negative questions" or "alternative questions." The structure is:

When you use 不怎么 (bù zěnme) before an adjective, it means "not very." This structure is similar to how English speakers may say something is "not very good".

As well as yes / no questions, you can also form tag questions with 吗 (ma). Tag questions are quick questions that are tagged on the end of a sentence to ask for /confirm/iation. In English, this is often done with "right?", or by adding the negative form of the verb phrase – e.g., "isn’t it?".

As well as tag questions with ma, tag questions can also be formed using 不 (bù). This is done with a positive negative question.

In English, nouns can be linked to adjectives and other nouns with the verb to be. In Chinese, nouns are linked in different ways to adjectives and other nouns. Nouns are linked to nouns with 是. Nouns are linked to adjectives with 很(hěn).

The simplest structure for expressing too in the sense of excessively in Chinese uses the word 太 (tài).

鄙（bǐ）
Origin:Meaning:vulgar; to despiseWords:鄙薄(bǐbó):shallow
鄙视(bǐshì): to disdain, to despise
鄙夷(bǐyí): to scorn
鄙人(bǐrén): oneself
卑鄙(bēi bǐ): despicable

In most basic form of Chinese grammar, Chinese word order is very similar to English word order. Don’t expect these similarities to hold true too far past the very basic sentence order outlined below, though!