Dialogue

 甲：这是什么？

乙： 这是我爸爸的地图。

甲： 这是什么地图？

乙： 这是世界地图。

甲： 那是哪国地图？

乙： 那是中国地图。你看，这是北京，那是上海。

甲： 这是长城吧？

乙： 对了。

甲： 噢，长城真长。那是什么？

乙： 那是黄河。

甲： 这是什么河呢？

乙： 这是长江。

Grammar

1. The verbal predicate:

Chinese verbs such as 说, 看 can function as predicates. The word order of a simple sentence with a verbal predicate is:

Subject + Verb + Object (optional)

 

中国人说中文。	Zhōngguó rén shuō Zhōngwén.	The Chinese speak Chinese.
她看世界地图。	Tā kàn Shìjiè dìtú.	She looks at the map of the World.

 
To negate a sentence with a verbal predicate, add the adverb 不 before the verb:

我们不看地图。	Wŏmen bú kàn dìtú.	We don’t look at the map.
他不说英文。	Tā bù shuō Yīngwén.	He does not speak English.

 
To form a simple question, you just add interrogative particle 吗 at the end of
a statement:

你说中文吗？

Nĭ shuō Zhōngwén ma?

Do you speak English?

Simple questions are answered by fielding the key word in a question. In this case it is the verbal predicate.

   

说。	Shuō.	Speak (yes).
不说。	Bù shuō.	Don’t speak (no).

* Note that the Chinese verb, being invariable, does not in itself show tense. In Chinese, the time of an action is shown by the context, time words or adverbs, which we will learn in the lessons to come.

2. More about specific questions with interrogative pronouns:

In order to highlight the interrogative sense, the particle 呢 can also be added to the end of a specific question. For example:

他是谁呢？	Tā shì shéi/shuí ne?	Who is he?
这是什么呢？	Zhè shì shénme ne?	What is this?
你看什么呢？	Nĭ kàn shénme ne?	What are you looking at?

    

What's next?

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