5 Basic Chinese Sentence Structures to Ease You into

Grammar
fluentu.com/blog/chinese/chinese-sentence-structures/

Alan Park February 17, 2023

One of the comforts of Chinese grammar is the straightforward and logical sentence patterns.

And thankfully, many of them are based on the formula you already know.

Ah, the ever-so-basic but ever-so-reliable SVO pattern.

Here are five really simple Chinese sentence structures to build your Mandarin
language skills.

Contents

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1. Subject + Verb + (Object)
As the foundation of the rest of the structures in the post, this pattern needs no introduction
or explanation.

Let’s take a look at an example of an SVO sentence in Chinese:

你吃肉。

(nǐ chī ròu.)

You eat meat.

Like in English, sentences can also simply be composed of just a subject and a verb.

你吃。

(nǐ chī.)
You eat.

Here are other examples of SV(O) sentences:

妈妈工作。

zuò.)
(mā ma gōng
Mom works.

他们教书。
(tā men jiāo
shū.)

They (all male or mixed gender) teach.

她学习拉丁语。

(tā xué xí lā dīng yǔ.)

She studies Latin.

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小男孩读漫画书。
(xiǎo nán hái dú màn huà shū.)
The little boy reads comic books.

2. Subject + Verb + (Object) + 吗？

Okay, now it’s time to build up from the SV(O) word order.

As you can see, 吗 (ma) is a particle that turns statements into yes/no questions.

So when 吗 is tacked on the end of an SV(O) statement, it turns the sentence into a
“Do/Does” question.

Building on the examples from earlier, here’s a question without an object:

你吃吗？

(nǐ chī ma?)

lit. You eat?

Do you eat?

Then here’s what the question would look like with an object:

你吃肉吗？

(nǐ chī ròu ma?)

lit. You eat meat?

Do you eat meat?

Here are more examples of this pattern:

妈妈工作吗

zuò ma?)
(mā ma gōng
Does Mom work?

他们教书吗？

ma?)
(tā men jiāo shū
Do they teach?

她学习拉丁语吗？

ma?)
(tā xué xí lā dīng yǔ
Does she study Latin?

小男孩读漫画书吗？
(xiǎo nán hái dú màn
huà shū ma?)

Does the little boy read comic books?

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3. Subject + Time + Verb + (Object)
This is where we start to explore the uniquely Chinese sentence structures.

If you want to add a time when an action occurs, you need to place that information in
between the subject and the verb.

Without an object:

你周一吃。
(nǐ zhōu yī
chī.)
lit. You Monday
eat.

You eat on Monday(s).

With an object:

你周一吃肉。

ròu.)
(nǐ zhōu yī chī
lit. You Monday eat
meat.
You eat meat on Monday(s).

Other examples:

妈妈星期六工作。

gōng zuò.)
(mā ma xīng qī liù
Mom works on Saturday(s).

他们每年教书。

jiāo shū.)
(tā men měi nián
They teach every year.

她早上学习拉丁语。
(tā zǎo shang xué xí
lā dīng yǔ.)
She studies Latin in the morning.

小男孩晚上看漫画书。
(xiǎo nán hái wǎn shàng
kàn màn huà shū.)
The little boy reads comic books at night.

4. Subject + Time + 在 Location + Verb + (Object)

在 (zài) has several meanings, but in Chinese SVO sentences, it’s translated as “at” to indicate
the location.

在 + location

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So if you wanted to say, “at the restaurant,” it would be 在餐厅 (zài cān tīng). Then this little
detail would need to be placed in between the time and verb.

Without an object:

你周一在餐厅吃。

tīng chī.)
(nǐ zhōu yī zài cān
lit. You Monday at restaurant
eat.

You eat at the restaurant on Monday(s).

With an object:

你周一在餐厅吃肉。

(nǐ zhōu yī zài cān tīng chī ròu.)

lit. You Monday at restaurant eat
meat.

You eat meat at the restaurant on Monday(s).

Other examples:

妈妈星期六在沙龙工作。

lóng gōng zuò.)
(mā ma xīng qī liù zài shā
Mom works at the salon on Saturday(s).

他们每年在大学教书。

xué jiāo shū.)
(tā men měi nián zài dà

They teach at the university every year.

她早上在图书馆学习拉丁语。
(tā zǎo shang zài tú shū guǎn
xué xí lā dīng yǔ.)
She studies Latin in the morning at the library.

小男孩晚上在床上看漫画书。
(xiǎo nán hái wǎn shang zài
chuáng shàng kàn màn huà shū.)
The little boy reads comic books at night in bed.

Do note that there are some exceptions to this structure.

There are some verbs where the location would be placed after them instead of before. These
include:

住 (zhù) — to live
走 (zǒu) — to walk
坐 (zuò) — to sit

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These sentences normally don’t include an object, so the pattern here would be Subject +
Time + Verb + Location.

我们住在上海。
(wǒ men zhù zài
shàng hǎi.)
We live in Shanghai.

他们今天下午走到了路的尽头。
(tā men jīn tiān xià wǔ zǒu dào
le lù de jìn tóu)
They walked to the end of the road this afternoon.

我的猫在晚餐时间坐在椅子上。
(wǒ de māo zài wǎn cān shí jiān
zuò zài yǐ zi shàng.)
My cat sits on the chair at dinnertime.

Thankfully, most verbs follow the Subject + Time + 在 Location + Verb + (Object) word
order, so you don’t have to memorize a long list of exceptions.

5. Subject + Time + 在 Location + Verb + (Object) + Duration +

(Object)
The very last detail we’re going to include in our basic Chinese sentence structures is
duration.

Duration refers to a more specific length of time when the action occurs.

In other words, it’s basically indicating how long the action goes on during the given
timeframe.

Without an object:

你周一在餐厅吃三个小时。

(nǐ zhōu yī zài cān tīng chī sān gè xiǎo shí.)

lit. You Monday at restaurant eat three hours.

You eat at the restaurant on Monday(s) for three

hours.

If the sentence comes with an object, it can be placed right after the verb or after the
duration.

你周一在餐厅吃肉三个小时。
(nǐ zhōu yī zài cān tīng chīròu
sān gè xiǎo shí.)
lit. You Monday at restaurant eatmeat three hours.

You eat meat at the restaurant on Monday(s) for three

hours.

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你周一在餐厅吃三个小时肉。
(nǐ zhōu yī zài cān tīng chī sān gè xiǎo shí ròu.)

lit. You Monday at restaurant eat three hours meat.

hours.
You eat meat at the restaurant on Monday(s) for three

Other examples:

妈妈星期六在沙龙工作半天。

gōng zuò bàn tiān.)
(mā ma xīng qī liù zài shā lóng
Mom works at the salon on Saturday(s) for half the
day. 

他们每年在大学任教几个月。

jiào jǐ gè yuè.)
(tā men měi nián zài dà xué rèn

months.
They teach at the university every year for several

她早上在图书馆学习拉丁语一个小时。
(tā zǎo shang zài tú shū guǎn xué xí lā
dīng yǔ yì gè xiǎo shí.)
She studies Latin in the morning at the library for one hour. 

小男孩晚上在床上读三十分钟漫画书。

(xiǎo nán hái wǎn shang zài chuáng shàng dú sān shí fēn zhōng màn huà shū.)
The little boy reads comic books at night in bed for 30 minutes.

Resources for Chinese Sentence Structure Practice

I hope that you’ve found this post helpful in starting to understand Chinese grammar, as well
as getting some Chinese sentence structure practice.

And when you’re ready for new and more challenging sentence patterns, I have some
recommended resources below.

Grammar resources can feel a little dry and textbook-like, so remember to mix up your
learning materials so that you can also see these sentence structures in action.

East Asia Student: Very insightful additional tips, such as topic prominence,
modifiers and the importance of syllables.

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 FluentU Chinese: This is an online language learning platform with features to help
you learn Mandarin Chinese in context, such as authentic media clips with expert-
vetted interactive subtitles and transcripts. You can click on each word and phrase to
get additional example sentences and usage notes.
Chinese Grammar Wiki: This is a truly comprehensive resource on word order if
you want to dive deep into Chinese sentence structure.
Chinese Forums: Here you’ll find answers to common questions on tricky grammar
rules. This is more advanced content.

Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?

Although Chinese does have other sentence structures, it’s always comforting to start off your
grammar learning with something easy and familiar.

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