English and Chinese/Contrasive Grammar

Intro

This page lists out the differences between English and Chinese. This page uses simplified Chinese characters. The pronunciations are according to Mandarin.

Letters

In Chinese, there is no such things as letters. Instead, symbols(Chinese Characters) are used to write.

• (eng) Hello → 你好
• (eng) Goodbye → 再见
• (eng) What is your name → 你叫什么名字

The & A

There is no use of the or a in Chinese. A is replaced by ‘one’.

• (zho) 地球 → Earth :: The Earth
• (zho) 宇宙 → Universe :: The Universe
• (zho) 一座山 → One mountain :: A mountain

Sentence Structure

The order of words in Chinese are sometimes different from that in English.

Order of words

In Chinese, the sentence structure 'People+Time+Place+Action' is being used.

• (zho) 两名同学昨天在教室里吃饭。 → Two students yesterday in the classroom ate. :: Two students ate in the classroom yesterday.
• (zho) 你明天在电影院等我。 → You tomorrow at the cinema wait for me. :: You wait for me at the cinema tomorrow.
• (zho) 我明年会去加拿大上大学。 → I next year going to Canada for University. :: I am going to Canada for University next year.

Very

'Very' could be placed in front of or behind the adjective.

• (zho) 我很喜欢它。 → I very like it. :: I like it very much.
• (zho) 他乖得很。 → He is obedient very. :: He is very obedient.
• (zho) 非常感谢。 → Very much thank you. :: Thank you very much.

Pronunciations

In Chinese the symbols are indicated by Pinyin to show their pronunciations. The Pinyin are like English letters but they have a different pronunciation. They have similar usage as the phonetic symbols in English.

• a (ah)
• o (oh)
• e (eh)
• i (yi)
• u (wu)
• ü (yu)
• 你好 (ní hǎo)
• 再见（zài jiàn)

Etc.

Passive Voice

In Chinese, when a passive voice is written, the object is usually followed by ‘by’ and then the subject. What follows are the verbs.

• (zho) 饭被我吃了 → The food by me eaten :: The food is eaten by me
• (zho) 笔被我拿了 → The pen by me taken :: The pen is taken by me
• (zho) 我被他骗了 → I by him tricked :: I was tricked by him

Pronouns

There are a few differences in the usage of pronouns in Chinese from English.

Variety

In Chinese, there is a larger variety of pronouns used to express I, you, he, she and they than in English.

I:

• (zho) 我 → I
• (zho) 吾 → Ancient way of I
• (zho) 俺 → I, mostly used by less educated or unconstrained people
• (zho) 老夫 → I, used by older people
• (zho) 小生 → I, used by younger people

Etc.

You:

• (zho) 你 → You
• (zho) 汝 → Ancient way of You, same as ‘thee’
• (zho) 君 → Polite way of You
• (zho) 足下 → Polite way of You, used in ancient times
• (zho) 阁下 → Polite way of You

Etc.

They:

• (zho) 他们 → They, used for males or male and female mix
• (zho) 她们 → They, used for females

Etc.

Personal pronouns

Sometimes the Chinese sentences have no personal pronouns, but it is still considered as a complete sentence.

• (zho) 由于时间紧张，导致没能做完作业，请老师原谅。 → Due to the insufficient time, homework is not done, please forgive. :: Due to the insufficient time, our homework is not done, please forgive us.
• (zho) 一起去吃饭吧。 → Let go to eat. :: Let us go to eat.
• (zho) 因为资金不足导致任务失败。 → Do not have enough financial support thus did not complete the project. :: We Do not have enough financial support thus we did not complete the project.

Verbs

In Chinese, multiple verbs could be used in one sentence without using a connector such as ‘and’ or ‘but’.

• (zho) 他吃饭吃得真快。 → He eat food eats really fast. :: He eats food really fast.
• (zho) 你爬树，我上房。 → You climb the tree, I go to the roof. :: You climb the tree while I go to the roof.
• (zho) 欲得天下，先取荆州。 → Want to conquer the world, get Jingzhou first. :: If you want to conquer the world, get Jingzhou first.

Be-Verbs

Be-Verbs are sometimes not required in Chinese sentences.

• (zho) 我在做作业 → I do homework now (I am doing homework now)
• (zho) 我要去医院 → I going to hospital (I am going to the hospital)
• (zho) 当时我在法国 → I in France then (I was in France then)

Tenses

In Chinese, there are no tense used. Instead, words such as ‘already’ or ‘just now’ are used to express the time but the verbs do not change according to the tenses.

Perfect tense

过(already)is usually used to show the perfect tense.

• (zho) 我吃过饭了 → I have already eat. :: I have already eaten.
• (zho) 他去过美国了 → He have already go to the US. :: He has already been to the US.
• (zho) 你问过老师了吗？ → Have you ask the teacher? :: Have you asked the teacher?

Continuous tense

Words like 正/在(now) are used in continuous tense.

• (zho) 我刚刚在吃饭 → I eat just now. :: I was eating just now.
• (zho) 他在做作业 → He do homework. :: He is doing homework.
• (zho) 你在干什么？ → What you do? :: What are you doing?

Future tense

Words such as 要,会(Will/Going to) are used for future tense.

• (zho) 我正要吃饭 → I go to eat :: I am going to eat.
• (zho) 他要去参加比赛 → He go to participate in the competition. :: He is going to participate in the competition.
• (zho) 你明天会带过来吗？ → You bring it tomorrow? :: Will you bring it tomorrow?

Rhetorical Questions

In Chinese, when a rhetorical question is asked, is the answer is positive, the answer has to be in positive. If it is negative, then it will be answered in negative.

• (zho) 你没读过这本书吗？是，没读过。 → Haven’t you read this book? Yes, I haven’t. :: No, I haven’t.
• (zho) 你不会吗？不，我会。 → Don’t you know it? No, I know it. :: Yes, I know it.
• (zho) 你不好吗？是，我不好。 → Aren’t you doing well? Yes, I’m not. :: No, I’m not.

Singular and Plural

There is no change made to the noun for plural form. Also, for different nouns, different classifiers are being used. The most commonly seen classifier is 个. There are many others such as 条(for ropes, fish, rivers and dogs, etc that has a generally long and string-like appearance),张(for paper-like objects) and 台(for electrical appliances), etc.

• (zho) 一个球 → A ball
• (zho) 三个球 → Three ball(s)
• (zho) 一个人 → A person
• (zho) 三个人 → Three person(people)
• (zho) 一条狗 → A dog
• (zho) 三条狗 → Three dog(s)

Numbers

In Chinese, ten thousand(wan) is used as a unit instead of a thousand.

• (zho) 一万 → 10000 :: One ‘wan'
• (zho) 十万 → 100000 :: Ten ‘wan'
• (zho) 一千万 → 10000000 :: One thousand ‘wan'

So...that

In Chinese there is no such sentence structure as so...that.

• (zho) 他太累了，跑不动了。 → He is so tired that he cannot run anymore.
• (zho) 他太饱了，吃不下了。 → He is so full that he cannot eat anymore.
• (zho) 这个东西太大了，放不下了。 → This thing is so big that it cannot fit into this place.

Clause

The clause is usually in front of the noun in Chinese.

• (zho) 那个在跑步的人是个运动员。 → That running person is an athlete. :: The person who is running is an athlete.
• (zho) 说中文的那个人 → Speak Chinese that person :: The person who speaks Chinese
• (zho) 遛狗的那个人住在附近。 → Walking with a dog that person lives nearby. :: The person who is walking with a dog lives nearby.