Types of predicates in Chinese. Additions in Chinese

Today I suggest you get acquainted with the verb "to be" in Chinese. It is one of the most important verbs in almost every language. This verb is usually not translated into Russian. It is used in sentences like He is a doctor or This is a copybook, i.e. where the role of the predicate is a noun, numeral or pronoun. In addition, in Chinese it is used as a word for "yes" or "no". How exactly? Read below!

Statement

Chinese has a linking verb 是 (shì), means to be or be. The scheme of such a sentence looks like this A 是 B。 (A shì B ), i.e. A is B. It is important to remember that it is not used in sentences like "The picture is beautiful" or "It's hot now", i.e. with adjectives and adverbs (qualitative predicate), in contrast to European languages, where it is usually present. The word is often used for this. 很 (hěn). This word can be translated as very, but when it is used as a verb to be, as a rule, it is not translated into Russian. Simple, isn't it? Here and below, the traditional spelling is indicated in square brackets. If you move the mouse over the reading in Latin, the reading in Cyrillic will appear (closer to pronunciation).

她十分漂亮。 (tā shífēn piàoliang ) = She is very pretty.
你妹妹漂亮。 (nǐ mèimei piàoliang ) = Your sister is beautiful.
这个 是 我的包。[這個是我的包] (zhe ge shì wǒ de bāo) = This is my bag.
他们也 是 学生。[他們也是學生] (tā yě shy xuesheng) = They are also students.
这个房子 很 高。[這個房子很高] (zhège fángzi hěn gāo ) = This house is (very) tall.

Negation

Negative sentences like “He is not a student”, “This is not a table” are built using words 不是 (bù shì). The scheme of the negative sentence is A 不是 B。 (A bù shì B ), i.e. A is not B. When negating adverbs and adjectives, only the negative particle 不 (bù) is sufficient.

他 不是 学生。[他不是學生] (ta bù shì xuéshēng) = He is not a student.
这本 不是 书。[這本不是書] (zhe běn bù shì shū) = This is not a book.
这个房子 不 高。[這個房子不高] (zhège fangzi bu gāo) = This house is not high.
那个包 不 贵。[那個包不貴] (nàge bāo bu guì) = That bag is not expensive.

Question

To build an interrogative sentence, it is enough to add an interrogative particle 吗 [嗎] (ma) to the end of the affirmative sentence. Such a question often has a semantic connotation like “Yes? is not it? isn’t it?”, i.e. implies an affirmative answer. The scheme looks like this A 是 B 吗。 (A shì B ma ), which means A is B, right?. There is also another way to build interrogative sentence- by design 是不是 (shì bù shì). In the latter case, the interrogative particle 吗 [嗎] not set. Such a question can imply both a positive and a negative answer. The scheme of such a sentence is A 是不是 B？ (A shì bù shì B ), i.e. A is B?. I note that in this type of question you need to add "?" at the end of the sentence, unlike the previous version.

这本 是 书吗 ？[這本是書嗎] (zhe běn shy shū ma) = Is this a book?
你 是 谁？[你是誰] (nǐ shy shuy) = Who are you?
他 是 学生吗 ？[他是學生嗎] (ta shì xueshēng ma) = Is he a student?
你是哪国人？[你是哪國人] (nǐ shì nǎguó rén ) = What is your nationality?/What country are you from?
他 是不是 医生？[他是不是醫生] (ta shì bù shì yīshēng?) = Is he a doctor?
这个房子高 吗 ？[這個房子高嗎] (zhège fangzi gāo ma) = Is this house tall?

The answer to this question is very simple. Suffice it to say 是 what will mean Yes or 不是 in meaning No. For example:
— 这本书是你的吗？[這本書是你的嗎] (zhè běnshū shì nǐ de ma ) = This book is yours, right?
— 是(，我的)。 (shì, wǒ de) = yes, mine.
or
- 不是。 (bù shì ) = no.

Location

There is also a verb 在 (zài), it can be translated as "to be in, to be somewhere". Used to indicate the location of someone or something. It is often translated into Russian simply as the preposition "in" when talking about location (but not about direction).

我在 中国。[我在中國] (wǒ zai zhōngguó) = I (am) in China.
她朋友 在 莫斯科。 (tā pengyou zai mòsīkē) = Her friend lives in Moscow.*
请问，厕所在哪里 ？[請問，廁所在哪裡] (qǐngwèn, cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ) = Excuse me, where is the toilet?
我的手机 在哪里 ？[我的手機在哪裡] (wǒ de shǒujī zài nǎlǐ) = Where is my mobile phone?
你 在哪儿 ？[你在哪兒] (nǐ zai nǎ'er) = Where are you (now)?

* - in the meaning of "live in" it is better to use the verb 住在 (zhù zài)

Results

Summarize. Now we know how to say someone is someone or something is something. To consolidate, I will give the same sentence in the affirmation, negation and question, so that it is clear what exactly is changing. And when talking about location, we use the verb 在 .

他是学生。[他是學生] (tā shì xuéshēng ) = He is a student.
他不是学生。[他不是學生] (tā bù shì xuéshēng ) = He is not a student.
他是学生吗？[他是學生嗎] (tā shì xuéshēng ma ) = He is a student, right?
他是不是学生？[他是不是學生] (tā shì bù shì xuéshēng ) = Is he a student?
厕所在哪里？*[廁所在哪裡] (cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ* ) = Where is the toilet?
厕所在那里。*[廁所在那裡] (cèsuǒ zài nàlǐ* ) = The toilet is there.

* - there are 2 words that seem to sound the same 哪里 [哪裡] (nǎ lǐ) and 那里 [那裡] (nà lǐ). Pay attention to the 1st hieroglyph in these words. The 1st word is an interrogative word and means "where", the 1st syllable is pronounced with a 3rd tone. While the 2nd word is a demonstrative pronoun meaning "there", the 1st syllable is pronounced with a 4th tone. It is important not to confuse these words.

Topico-predicative sentences. We can move the addition (object) to the beginning of the sentence and separate it with commas, and in speech - highlight it with a micropause; thus, we will violate the basic order of the sentence Subject + Predicate + Addition, that is, we will make an inversion. We will call such an addition - a topic, and the next part of the sentence - a predicate (this is what is asserted about this topic). It is necessary to put an addition at the beginning of a sentence in order to emphasize it emotionally. When translating such a sentence into Russian, it is also necessary to break the word order in order to emotionally highlight the word, to make emphasis.

Structure, comparison and examples

Object, Subject + Predicate

  • 我喜欢这种车。 There is no emotional impact. wǒ xǐhuan zhè zhǒng chē. I love these cars.
  • 这种车， 我喜欢。There is inversion and emphase.zhè zhǒng chē, wǒ xǐhuan.I love these cars.
  • 我很喜欢中文。 There is no emotional impact. wǒ hěn xǐhuan zhōngwén. I really like Chinese.
  • 中文， 我很喜欢。 There is inversion and emphase.zhongwen, wǒhěn xǐhuan.I like Chinese very much.
  • 这个， 我恐怕不能告诉您。 zhege, wǒ kǒngpà bùnéng gàosu nín.I'm afraid I can't tell you this.
  • 这个， 我知道。zhege, wǒ zhīdao. This I know.
  • 这个衬衣， 我要大号的。 zhège chenyī, wǒ yào dà hào de.This shirt... I need a large size.
  • 这个问题， 我答不上来。 zhège wenti, wǒ dā bù shanglái.I cannot answer this question.
  • 中文 你说得非常好。 zhongwen nǐ shuō de fēicháng hǎo.You speak Chinese very well.
  • 这 个 电脑， 价格 不太 贵。 In this case, the order is not exactly violated, but we just separated 这 个 电脑 with commas, and in speech with a pause.zhè gè diànnǎo, jiagé bù tài guì.This computer... the price is very high.
  • 莫斯科 的 冬天 ， 我 听说 不下 雪，也 不太冷。 mòsīkē de dōngtiān, wǒ tīng shuō bùxià xuě, yě bù tài lěng.In winter in Moscow, I heard there is no snow and it is not so cold.

Making a topic out of an add-on is recommended if the add-on is a huge phrase. Some authors generally insist that huge additions should not be inserted into the usual basic structure place in the sentence, that is, after the predicate. And you need to insert them at the beginning of the sentence. However, the Chinese themselves say this and that.

  • 昨天我买的车， 我妻子也要买。 昨天我买的车 is that huge complement phrase.zuótiān wǒ mǎi de chē, wǒ qīzi yě yāomǎi.The car I bought yesterday, my wife also wants to buy.
  • 我妻子也要买 昨天我买的车 。Not recommended.wǒ qīzi yě yāomǎi zuótiān wǒ mǎi de chē. My wife also wants to buy the car I bought yesterday.
  • 妈妈给我买的这件春秋衫， 我很喜欢。 māmā gěi wǒ mǎi de zhèjiàn chūnqiū shān, wǒhěn xǐhuan.The spring-autumn jacket that my mother bought me, I really like it.
  • 我很喜欢 妈妈给我买的这件春秋衫 。Not recommended.wǒhěn xǐhuan māmā gěi wǒ mǎi de zhèjiàn chūnqiū shān. I really like the spring-autumn jacket that my mother bought me.

In Chinese, there is a very simple rule for simple sentences with a verbal predicate.

Chinese Grammar Rule #2

Simple sentence is a sentence that consists of one part. It contains

  • the main members of the sentence are the subject and the predicate,
  • secondary members of the proposal - addition, circumstances, definitions.

Let's remember school lessons (who has already managed to forget them 🙂).

The subject is the main member of the sentence. Designates an object, person, phenomenon. Answers questions in the nominative case - who? what?

The subject can be represented by the following parts of speech:

  • noun
  • pronoun
  • adjective
  • verb
  • etc

Chinese proposal may not contain a subject.

The predicate is also the main member of the sentence. Means action (active or passive), quality, state. Answers the questions what to do? what to do? what?

It is clear that verbal predicate represented by a verb.

Chinese proposal must have a predicate!

An addition is a minor member of a sentence. Denotes the object or tool on which the action of the verbal predicate is directed.

An addition can specify an action or quality in quantitative terms - a quantitative addition. Answers questions of indirect cases (that is, all cases except the nominative).

Parts of speech that can be represented by an object:

  • noun,
  • pronoun,
  • noun phrase,
  • syntactic complex and included part.

The object can be used with or without a preposition.

Comparison with Russian

In Russian, variants of such sentences are possible.
For example,

I speak Chinese. ( subject - predicate - object).
I speak Chinese. ( predicate - subject - object).
I read Chinese. ( object - subject - predicate).

In the Chinese sentence, one must strictly adhere to the scheme:

SUBJECT + PREDICT + OBJECT.

The subject and object can be carried .

Examples

我说中文 - wǒ shuō zhōng wén - I speak Chinese.

我看书 - wǒ kàn shū - I am reading a book.

他吃肉 - tā chī ròu - He eats meat.

More difficult examples:

狗爱爬山 - gǒu ài pá shān - The dog likes to climb mountains. (Note that the Chinese sentence does not use a preposition. The literal translation is dog, love, climb, mountain.)

1. Classification by parts of speech A.A. Dragunov.

2. A.A. Dragunov was the first in Russian sinology to give a detailed description of the parts of speech of the modern Chinese language, taking into account the specifics of the grammatical structure of languages ​​of the isolating type. In 1934 he co-wrote An Elementary Chinese Grammar with Zhou Songyuan, aimed at Chinese learners. In this work, the author for the first time formulated his point of view on the problem of parts of speech in Chinese. A.A. Dragunov wrote: “This grammar differs from all existing Chinese grammar textbooks, in which parts of speech are distinguished only by meaning, or it is argued that the parts of speech of the Chinese language are “indefinite”, therefore it is generally impossible to talk about their differentiation. This grammar book is consistently based on the concept of parts of speech as a "grammatical classification of words". A.A. Dragunov continued to develop the theory about the principles of singling out parts of speech in Chinese in his subsequent works, dedicated to research grammar.

It is interesting to note that A.A. Dragunov’s approach to interpreting the problem of parts of speech was largely theoretically formed under the influence of views on grammatical categories in the Russian language, developed by the famous Russian scientist L.V. Shcherba, to whom he repeatedly refers.

In the fundamental work "Research on the Grammar of the Modern Chinese Language", A.A. Dragunov notes two features, taking into account which parts of speech are distinguished in the Chinese language (according to the author's terminology, "lexico-grammatical categories"). First, it is necessary to take into account which member of the sentence the given word acts as; secondly, with what categories of words the given word is capable or not capable of being combined. In this case, not a separate syntactic function or type of connection is taken into account, but the totality of all options. Both of these features can be combined under the general name "grammatical", hence the term proposed by A.A. Dragunov - "lexico-grammatical categories".

The general scheme of parts of speech in Chinese, developed by A.A. Dragunov, looks like this:

A) I. Name: noun, numeral

II. Predicative: verb, adjective

B) Adverb

Comparing the scheme of parts of speech of the Chinese language with the well-known traditional system of parts of speech of Russian and other Indo-European languages, A.A. Dragunov came to the conclusion that “one of the main differences between the Chinese language and other languages, in particular, from Russian, is by no means that the Russian language has parts of speech, but the Chinese language does not, but that the system of parts speeches in these languages ​​do not coincide with each other.


A.A. Dragunov combined the verb and the adjective into one category, noting that the words of these two classes, unlike the words of the category of the name, can function as a predicate without a link, and can also be directly connected with aspectual-temporal and modal indicators.

“At the same time, as the author notes, it is important that the numerals, entering the category of the name, have a number of common grammatical features with the category of the predicative, and the adjectives that are included in the category of the predicative, in turn, have a number of common features with nouns.”

Significant words (parts of speech) correlate with service words (according to the terminology of A.A. Dragunov, “particles of speech”). Particles of speech form their own system and, unlike parts of speech, are characterized by the absence of tone and incompatibility with the attributive-nominal suffix 的.

The substantiation by A.A. Dragunov of the presence of parts of speech in the Chinese language is of great importance not only for Russian sinology, but also for the entire linguistic science. A.A. Dragunov made a very important conclusion that “lexico-grammatical categories lie at the center of the Chinese grammatical system, reflected in the construction of phrases, in different types of sentences. Outside of these categories, it is impossible to understand the structural features of Chinese speech and it would be impossible to expound the grammar of the Chinese language.

Theory of A.A. Dragunov was continued and developed by his student and follower S.E. Yakhontov. In an article devoted to parts of speech in general and Chinese linguistics, he notes that "when distinguishing parts of speech, all essential grammatical features of words are taken into account, both morphological and derivational, and syntactic" . S.Yakhontov believes that in languages ​​with poorly developed morphology, the classification of words taking into account only this feature is practically impossible. Paramount in delimiting parts of speech should be a grammatical criterion.

3. FSP of temporality in the SCA.

A system of multi-level means of the language, characterized by the relativity of the action expressed by the verb to the moment of speech, or to any other moment taken as a starting point. Particular categorical meanings are distinguished: 1. past 2. long past.

3. present future. They are distinguished on: morphemic level: 了, 过; lexical level: adverbs of time 经常, 已经, 常常, 就, 马上, 还; lexical-syntactic level: 在…(以)前/后. There is a general category in grammar that defines grammatical tense. These moods are imperative, indicative, conditional, subjunctive. No command. inclinations in the past. time. The subjunctive is “if, then.” Unlike the category of aspect, the category of time depends on the modality of the statement (real and unreal). The grammatical category of time is realized within the real modality. Or she has additional mods. verbs: can, want, must. Center FSP temporality yavl. corresponding grammatical category. The meaning of time is the relation of the action expressed by the verb to the moment of speech. The category of time is predominantly negative. Dragunov holds the idea that there is a category of time in kya.