Finally, we come to the most general rule about Chinese grammar. One of the joys of studying Chinese is that on the whole it’s a very logical, consistent language. This is very true in Chinese vocabulary, as you can usually see very clearly the logic behind most words. It’s also true in Chinese grammar rules, which tend to be consistent and reusable once you’ve learned them.
Tag: Chinese Grammar
Chinese grammar rules #4: Aspect, not tense
Another big difference between European languages and Chinese is aspect and tense. European languages usually indicate both of these things in a sentence, whereas Chinese tends to only indicates aspect.
Chinese grammar rule #3:Chinese is topic-prominent
This is a rule that English-speakers often find hard to get used to. Chinese is topic prominent. This means that it puts the thing the sentence is about first. English is subject prominent, which means that it puts the doer of an action (the subject) in a sentence first.
Chinese grammar rule #2: Words do not change
Unlike in European languages, words in Chinese do not change. They have a fixed form that is the same no matter what they’re used for or where the appear in a sentence. In Chinese, you don’t conjugate verbs and you don’t make adjectives agree. According to Chinese grammar rules, a word is a word.
Chinese grammar rule #1: What precedes modifies what follows
Chinese grammar rule #1: What precedes modifies what follows This rule sounds a little bit complicated when you first see it, but it’s actually quite straightforward. It simply means that modifiers come before the thing they modify. The Chinese language, right through from the written classical language to the modern spoken vernacular, has always had this rule.
Key Chinese grammar structure: modifier + de + noun (的)
This grammar structure is one of the most basic and important features of Chinese grammar: modifier + 的 + noun
Interference when learning Chinese
This is the eleventh article in this series based on Dr Piotr Wozniaks 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge. The eleventh rule is “combat interference”.
Avoid sets
The ninth rule in 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge is “avoid sets”. What does this mean in terms of study methods, and how can it be applied to language learning?
How to Learn to Write Chinese: The Method
The final article in this series on how to learn to write Chinese covers the actual method I would recommend for learning to write Chinese characters. If you haven’t already, read the other two articles first.
The 10 best free resources for learning Mandarin Chinese
I’ve gathered here what I consider the best free resources for learning Mandarin and ranked them in order of usefulness. I reckon you could learn Mandarin very effectively, for free, using only these resources.
Thai 
English 
French 
German 
Malay 
Vietnamese 
Myanmar