This article is for intermediate Chinese learners, and will teach them how to make long and logical sentences by organizing clauses into eight kinds of relationships.
Through my experience on learning six different languages, I believe that sentence-making is a wonderful way to further gain progress in your language learning after mastering the language’s phonetic system and having accrued a solid foundation of vocabulary.
The practice of writing sentences is a creative way to apply words that you have learned — and you should be doing this as many times as possible. While repetition helps with building up vocabulary and improving your memory, writing sentences is a unique experience with vastly differing examples from each individual. Since everyone of us has different life experiences, so in turn, we will naturally practice writing sentences on different topic matters and such. Therefore, after you have mastered these words in your sentence-making, you have a greater chance of using the sentences you have created in your daily life.
Sentence-making is an effective way to get familiar with the different structures of sentence. It is more recommended to practice writing a variety of sentences rather than piling the same simple sentences together. Your words will begin to sound nicer on account of how you express them. Remember! We are not robots, we are language musician.
For sentence-making in Chinese, we write strokes together to make words and put words together to form sentences. Since I assume you already know this, now we are going to make longer and more complicated sentences to better express our thoughts and feelings.
I will briefly introduce some basic knowledge before tackle the “8 strategies” for compound sentences.
Like English, the order of writing Chinese sentences is also composed of:
“Subject + Verb + Object” (The Basic model: SVO)
But easier compared to English, Chinese won’t place question words in front when asking a question. For example:
*吗 is a particle with no meaning only used in question mood.
It is crucial to understand and learn to break down long (seemingly complicated) sentences and recognize the basic model in sentences.
“(Attribute) Subject + (Adverbial) Verb/Adjective (Complement) + (Attribute) Object” (The Complex Model)
Depending on the two models above, you can try to find the SVO (basic model) by yourself and I believe this can enhance your comprehension of the language.
When speaking Chinese, we don’t really say long or simple sentences which may obscure meaning, and because people cannot clearly catch SVO in conversation. So how do we make a longer sentence understandable? Today I will introduce conjunctive words that connect clauses to make logical sentences.
Clauses lie parallel to each other. There is no emphasis or collision on any clause. Some conjunctive words that you can use:
“既……(,)又……。”
For example:
*Attention:
“一边……,一边……。”
For example:
“不是……,而是……。”
For example:
*Attention:
This type of sentence describes an action or fact happened in sequential order. This emphasises on a logical sequence between clauses.
“首先……,其次……,最后……。”
Example:
“一……,就……。”
Example:
These words are also used frequently below:
In this sentence, the second clause is emphasized more than the first clause. When you find that conjunctive words show a progressive relationship between clauses, pay closer attention to the second clause. It always contains the answer.
“不但……,而且……。”
For example:
*Attention:
“……,而且/并且/还/更…….”
Example:
“不仅……,还……。”
For example:
“不光……,也……。”
For example:
These clauses show different conditions or choices that require the listener to choose.
“或者…….,或者…….。”
For example:
“是…….,还是……。”
For example:
“与其…….,不如…….。”
For example:
“宁可……,也不……。”
For example:
*Attention:
Cause-and-effect relationship
One clause is “cause” and the other clause is the “effect” that resulted from the cause.
“因为…….,所以……。”
Example:
“之所以……,是因为……。” (Reverse version of “因为…所以…”)
Example:
“既然……,就……。”
Example:
The first clause offers “condition”, while the second clause assumes the possible result.
“只要……,就……。”
For instance:
“只有……,才……。”
For instance:
“无论……,都……。”
For instance:
The first clause offers “hypothesis” and the second clause assumes the possible result.
“如果……,就……”
For example:
“即使……,也……。”
For example:
“要是……,就……。”
For example:
The meaning of the second clause “conflicts” the meaning of the first clause.
“虽然……,但是……。”
Example:
“尽管……,还是……。”
Example:
The best way to mastering the above relationships is using only one conjunctive word and practice making lots of sentences until you are comfortable with that word, then move onto the next.
You can also ask Chinese native speakers to help you check the accuracy of your practiced sentences. After you are familiar with more and more conjunctive words, you can compare them between sentences. Once you feel more comfortable with your conjunctive word proficiency…
You can write two or more kinds of relationships together to make the sentence more complicated.
For example:
The sentence above combines “尽管…….还…….” (from transitional relationship) with “只要……就……” (from conditional relationship).
I know I have given you plenty of examples to absorb. Let me know which examples were the best takeaways for you! Looking forward to hearing your comments below! Until next time, happy learning!