Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar: A Student's Guide to Correct Structures and Common Errors

by Qin Xue Herzberg, Larry Herzberg

Overview

Learn to speak and write Chinese with confidence while avoiding common mistakes!

Here is a concise guide to supplement any course of study and help with homework, travel, and test preparation. Topics include word order, time, nouns, verbs, adjectives, word choices with verbs and adverbs, and letter writing. The simple format has one goal: quick mastery and growing confidence. This volume makes an ideal companion to any popular Chinese-language textbook, such as Integrated Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933330891
Publisher:	Stone Bridge Press
Publication date:	12/21/2010
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Larry Herzberg and Qin Herzberg, a married couple, are professors of Chinese language and culture at Calvin College in Michigan. They travel to China every year, both with students and without, and have been featured travel experts on MSNBC and other outlets. Qin and Larry live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are also co-authors of Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar: A Student’s Guide to Correct Structures and Common Errors (Stone Bridge Press, 2011) and Chinese Proverbs and Popular Sayings: With Observations on Culture and Language (Stone Bridge Press, 2012).

Larry Herzberg did his PhD work in Chinese and founded the Chinese language programs at Albion College and Calvin College; he is also a professional violinist. In 2011 Larry was awarded the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching, the highest honor that Calvin College bestows on a faculty member.

Qin Xue Herzberg, a graduate of Beijing Normal University, has taught Chinese for decades and has been an upper-level Chinese professor at Calvin College for more than ten years.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: BASIC WORD ORDER
1) Basic Word Order 2) Action and Location 3) Action and Time 4) Word Order for When Something Happens 5) Duration of Time 6) Placement of the word “Why?”

CHAPTER TWO: TIME EXPRESSIONS
1) When/While… 2) Days, Weeks, Months, Years

CHAPTER THREE: NOUNS
1) Plurals 2) Counting Things 3) “This” and “That” 4) Nouns for Nationalities and Languages 5) “All” of some Noun 6) Indefinites 7) Not Even One Bit of Something 8) Location Words

CHAPTER FOUR: VERBS
1) Past Tense 2) Present Tense 3) Future Tense 4) The Word “It” with Verbs 5) Helping Verbs 6) Going, Coming, Returning 7) The “Ba” Pattern with Verbs 8) The “Shi…de” Pattern with Past Tense Action Verbs 9) Passive Voice

CHAPTER FIVE: ADJECTIVES
1) General Rules for Adjectives 2) How to Translate “Bad” 3) “Not Bad” 4) “Nice” 5) “Pretty” 6) Positive Comparisons 7) Negative Comparisons

CHAPTER SIX: USES OF THE PARTICLE “LE”
1) Action Verbs in Past Tense 2) Change of Status with Adjectives 3) Imminent Action 4) “Not Any More”

CHAPTER SEVEN: USES OF THE PARTICLE “DE”
1) Uses of 的 (de) 2) Uses of 地(de) 3) Uses of 得(de)

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONJUNCTIONS (AND; OR)
1) “And”: Connecting nouns; verbs and adjectives 2) “Or”: In a statement; in a question

CHAPTER NINE: SUBORDINATE CLAUSES
1) Connecting sentences with “who”/”that” 2) If…then 3) As soon as 4) Even 5) Because 6) No Matter Whether 7) Besides?

CHAPTER TEN: How to Express the verb “can” in Chinese
1) Know how to (hui) 2) Physically able (neng) 3) May/permitted (keyi) 4) Resultative Endings?

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Word Choice Issues with Certain Important Verbs
1) To “be” (“shi” vs. “zuo” vs. “dang”) 2) To “know” (“zhidao” vs. “renshi”) 3) “Like” vs. “Would like to” (“xihuan” vs. “xiang”) 4) “To think/to feel” (“xiang” vs. “juede”) 5) “To ask” 6) “To tell” 7) “To seem like” (“haoxiang” vs. “xiang”) 8) “To receive” 9) “To be afraid” 10) “To worry” 11) “To help” 12) “To take” 13) “To lose” 14) “To produce”?

CHAPTER TWELVE: Word Choice Issues with Adverbs
1) “from” 2) “first” 3) “actually” 4) “although” 5) “almost” 6) “unless” 7) “every time”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Letter Writing Issues
1) Greetings and Salutations 2) Writing to one’s Parents 3) Closing the Letter 4) More on Ending the Letter 5) Social Niceties