Key concepts and technical terms in Chinese grammar

汉语语法术语

Youxuan Wang

2012-01-22

This short article will first give two short lists: a list of terms which designate word classes and a list of terms which name sentennce constituents. The first list falls into the domain of lexicology and the second pertains to the terrain of syntax. 

The last section of this article introduces a method for marking up various sentence constituents in syntactical analyses. This method has been practised by Chinese grammarians, and it is often used in textbooks and exams.  

We do not study jargons for jargons' sake, but use them to facilitate learning.

 A. Word class (or part of speech)  词性

 1.      

01	名词	míngcí	noun –  a term signifying an concrete or abstract entity, e.g.: 山，水，记忆.
02	代词	dàicí	pronoun –   a substitute for a noun, e.g.: 我，你，他，她，它.
03	形容词	xíngróngcí	adjective – a qualifier or modifier of a noun, e.g.: 好，高，大，小.
04	数词	shùcí	numeral, e.g.: 一，二，两，十，百.
05	量词	liàngcí	measure word, e.g.: 个，件，把，张.
06	动词	dòngcí	verb –   a part of speech used to narrate an action or process.
06a	能愿动词	néngyuàn dòngcí	operative verb –  a part of speech signifying the intention or capability, e..g.: 能够，可以，会，要，愿意, etc.
07	副词	fùcí	adverb  –  a part of speech used to qualify the meaning of a verb, e.g.: 很，一会儿，有点儿，慢慢地.
08	介词	jiècí	preposition –  a part of speech placed before a noun (or noun phrase) to establish a relation or a context, e.g.: 在， 于，把，用， 以， 从，自从 ，和，跟，同etc..
09	助词	zhùcí	particle – a morpheme in verb construction, enabling the verb to express tense, mood, attitude etc, e.g.: 了，过， 着，吗，呢， 吧.
10	连词	liáncí	conjunction –  part of speech used to make explicit the logical relation between two or more otherwise indenpendent sentences. 和，与，因为……所以……; 虽然…….但是……;如果……那么…….
10	叹词	tàncí	interjection, e.g.: 啊，哦, 喂。

See also Hanyu Jiaocheng, part 1of book 1, page ix

B. Sentence constituents 句子成分

1	主语	Subject – the thematic focus of a discourse, or that which is being talked about. Words used to form this constituent: Nouns, pronouns etc.
2	宾语	Object – the recipient of an action.
3	谓语	Predicate – the characterisation of the subject.
4	述语	Predicative verb – the main verb in the predicate.
5	定语	Attributive – the qualification or modification of a noun.
6	状语	Adverbial – the modification of a verb.
7	补语	Complement – additional words attached to the end of the sentence, used to complete the expression of the meaning of the sentence.

C. Marking up sentence constituents 句子成分的标识方法

Here is a list of the most commonly used markup symbols:

When analysing the syntax of a Chinese sentence, instead of spelling out the grammatical terms, grammarians would often use these markup symbols. For instance, when conducting a syntactical analysis of the sentence  “星期天, 我有时在宿舍读书，有时去球场打球”, they can put square brackets around the adverbials, a double-underline beneath the subject, single underlines beneath the predicative verbs etc.:

 

For more explanation about the use of these markup symbols, please click here.

Exercises:

Use a pencil to mark up the constituents of the following sentences:

(1)   我  正在  听  音乐。

(2）  我  在厨房  做  饭。

(3)   我 每个星期天  给爸爸、妈妈  写  信。

(4)   这个  箱子  很  重。 里面  只  有  书。

(5)   现在  是  早晨 九点。

(6)   再过十个小时， 我们的  工作  就  要  完成了。

(7)   我  在  跟我的爷爷  学习  太极拳。

(8)   我 喜欢  听  我妈妈  唱歌。

(9)   两座大山  之间  有 一个  很深的  山谷。

(10) 今天下午， 我们学校的 球队  跟  政法大学的  代表队  比赛。


Further readings for more advanced students

Wang, Youxuan. "How Chinese grammarians mark up sentence constituents (句子成分的标识方法)". <http://intensive-chinese.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/marking-up-sentence-constituents.html>. 2012-01-23.