BASIC CHINESE: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK Praise for the first edition: ‘Very well structured and clearly explained’ Dr Qian Kan, Cambridge University Basic Chinese introduces the essentials of Chinese syntax. Each of the 25 units deals with a particular grammatical point and provides associated exercises. Features include: • clear, accessible format • many useful language examples • jargon-free explanations of grammar • ample drills and exercises • full key to exercises All Chinese entries are presented in both pinyin romanization and Chinese characters, and are accompanied, in most cases, by English translations to facilitate self-tuition as well as classroom teaching in both spoken and written Chinese. Basic Chinese is designed for students new to the language. Together with its sister volume, Intermediate Chinese, it forms a compendium of the essentials of Chinese syntax. Yip Po-Ching was formerly Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds and Don Rimmington is Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies and former head of the East Asian Studies Department at the University of Leeds. They are the authors of Chinese: An Essential Grammar (1996; 2nd edition, 2006), Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook (1998; 2nd edition forthcoming), and Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar (2004). Titles of related interest published by Routledge: Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington Chinese: An Essential Grammar by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington Colloquial Chinese: A Complete Language Course by Kan Qian Colloquial Chinese CD-ROM by Kan Qian Colloquial Chinese (Reprint of the first edition) by Ping-Cheng T’ung and David E. Pollard The Chinese Lexicon by Yip Po-Ching Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook by Virginia Yip and Stephen Matthews Intermediate Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook by Virginia Yip and Stephen Matthews Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Stephen Matthews and Virginia Yip Colloquial Cantonese: A Complete Language Course by Keith S. T. Tong and Gregory James Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are: Basic Cantonese Basic Polish Intermediate Cantonese Intermediate Polish Basic Du tch Basic Russian Intermediate Dutch Intermediate Russian Basic German Basic Spanish Intermediate German Intermediate Spanish Basic Irish Basic Welsh Intermediate Irish Intermediate Welsh Basic Italian Basic Korean Intermediate Korean (forthcoming) BASIC CHINESE: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK 2nd edition Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington with Zhang Xiaoming, Rachel Henson and Yip Li Quzhen First published 1998 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Second edition published 2009 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1998, 2009 Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Yip, Po-ching, 1935– Basic Chinese : a grammar and workbook / Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Chinese language—Grammar. 2. Chinese language—Syntax. 3. Chinese language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English.I.Rimmington, Don. II. Title. PL1111.Y56 2009 495.1′82421—dc22 2008031535 ISBN 0-203-88340-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–47216–4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–47215–6 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–88340–3 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–47216–6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–47215–9 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–88340–2 (ebk) CONTENTS Introduction vii 1 Nouns: singular and plural 1 2 Definite and indefinite reference and demonstratives 8 3 Personal pronouns 17 4 Interrogative pronouns 28 5 Numbers 38 6 Measure words 49 7 Indefinite plurals 63 8 Times and dates 73 9 More interrogative expressions 84 10 Adjectives: attributive and predicative 93 11 shì and yi u 103 12 Comparisons 113 13 Verbs and location expressions 127 14 Verbs and time expressions 139 15 Verbs and aspect markers 154 16 Modal verbs 165 v Contents 17 Negators: bù and ( ) méi(yiu) 174 18 Types of question (1) 185 19 Types of question (2) 196 20 Imperatives and exclamations 206 21 Complements of direction and location (or destination) 214 22 Complements of result and manner 225 23 Potential complements 234 24 Coverbal phrases 242 25 Disyllabic prepositions 255 Key to exercises 264 Vocabulary list: Chinese to English 320 Vocabulary list: English to Chinese 340 Glossary of grammatical terms 359 Index 364 vi INTRODUCTION This book is designed to assist learners of Mandarin or Modern Standard Chinese, which is the language spoken by close on 70 per cent of the people of China. It presents the essential features of Chinese syntax in an easily accessible reference-and-practice format. We hope that it will be helpful to students of the language at all levels, though some initial knowledge will be an advantage, and we envisage that it will be suitable for classroom use, as well as for individual study and reference. The book sets forth most of the basic elements of Chinese syntax, dealing with simple sentences and the main grammatical categories. The material is laid out over 25 units, and is introduced on a graded basis with more elementary items in the early units and more complex patterns in the later sections. Each unit deals with an individual language category or structure. In the early stages, of necessity, grammatical items beyond those intro- duced in a unit are used in the illustrative sentences, but explanatory notes are added for them with cross-referencing to the later units, in which they themselves appear. Each unit also provides follow-up exercises, which are designed for immediate reinforcement and readers are encouraged to make full use of them. A key to the exercises is given at the end of the book. Readers may wish to consult the units separately or work pro- gressively through th e book, but we suggest that, when going through a particular unit, they attempt all the exercises in it, before consulting the key. In this second edition extra drills have been provided for each unit, which draw on the additional illustrative material mentioned above and which give an opportunity for the reader to extend and explore his or her learning experience of the language. They of course in many cases anticipate material that is to appear later in the book, but the intention is to encourage from the start practice in the rhythms of the basic structures of the language. It is an advantage when learning any language, and particularly Chinese, if you can develop good speech habits vii Introduc- as soon as possible as well as learning grammatical rules. If the tion exercises are there to help you with the grammatical rules, the drills will help you develop good speech habits. Keys to these drills are provided with the exercise keys at the end of the book. Practical, functional vocabulary is used in the grammatical explana- tions and in the exercises anddrills, and itis introduced as far as possible on a cumulative basis. A complete vocabulary list is appended to facilitate easy reference. The use of grammatical terms is kept to a minimum and explana- tions of them are given as they occur. In addition a glossary of these terms is included as an appendix. An index is also provided to help locate particular grammatical structures or explanations. All illustrative examples throughout the book are given in Chinese script and pinyinromanization, with colloquial English translations and where necessary with additional literal translations (marked lit.). Students interested in pursuing their practical study of the Chinese language to a higher level should consult the companion volume to this book, Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook, where more syntactic patterns peculiar to the Chinese language are explained and the important grammatical items covered in Basic Chinese are sum- marized. Furthermore, exercises and drills in Intermediate Chinese not only cover specific grammar points but also compare them with English language usage. The preparation of this second edition is based on the first edition of the book, which received financial assistance from the University of Leeds Academic Development Fund. Two Research Assistants, Ms Zhang Xiaoming and Ms Rachel Henson carried out much of the important work of assembling the illustrative material. The present revision, however, could not have been completed without help and contribution from Mrs Yip Li Quzhen, who closely monitored the vocabulary progression, partially revamped the exercises and compiled the vocabulary list. Any errors or omissions are, of course, the fault of the authors. Note: We have used ‘a’ rather than ‘ɑ’, which is the standard form in pinyin romanization. viii UNIT ONE Nouns: singular and plural A In Chinese, as in other languages, nouns may be differentiated into a number of categories. The largest category is the common noun, which covers tangible, discrete entities, e.g. dàren adult, shù tree, etc. The common noun is the main focus of this unit, but other noun categories are: (i) proper noun (for one individual entity): e.g. zhdngguóChina, lhmíngLi Ming (name of a person) (ii) material noun (for non-discrete entities): e.g. zhh paper, chá tea (iii) abstract noun (for non-tangible entities): e.g. wénhuà culture, jcngjì economy B Chinese common nouns, unlike English ones, make no distinction in form between singular and plural: pínggui apple/apples háizi child/children yc gè pínggui an/one apple lifng gè pínggui two apples yc gè háizi a/one child lifng gè háizi two children C Another important feature of the common noun in Chinese is that when it is used with a numeral, the numeral has to have a measure word between it and the noun (see also Unit 6). gè (usually unstressed as ge in actual speech) is by far the most common measure word and it can occur with a wide range of nouns: yc gè rén a/one person lifng gè xuésheng two students san gè miànbao three bread rolls/three buns sì gè chéngzi four oranges 1