Glossary of grammatical terms and abbreviations
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
ADJECTIVE xíngróngcí 形容词/形容詞 | adj | A word that describes a noun and functions as the predicate of a sentence in Chinese, e.g., 高山 gāo shān (tall mountain), and 她/他很高 tā hěn gāo (she/he is tall) (Chapter 12). |
ADVERB fùcí 副词/副詞 | adv | A word whose function is to modify a verb or an adjective, e.g., 刚到/剛到 gāng dào (just arrived), and 很好 hěn hǎo (very good) (Chapter 13). |
| AGENT (DOER) | A doer who performs an action, often represented by a noun or a noun phrase, e.g., 她/他吃苹果/她/他吃蘋果 tā chī píngguǒ (she/he eats apples) (Chapters 22 and 23). | |
| ASPECT | A particle attached to a verb signifying information on the relative time of the event (§10.4 and §16.2). | |
| Perfective | An aspect that indicates the completion of an event, such as 了 le, e.g., 她/他去了中国/她/他去了中國 tā qù le Zhōngguó (she/he has gone to China). | |
| Durative | An aspect that indicates the continuation of an event, such as 着 zhe, e.g., 她/他拿着一本书/她/他拿著一本書 tā ná zhe yì běn shū (she/he is holding a book). | |
| Experiential | An aspect that indicates a highly relevant event that happened before, such as 过 guo, e.g., 她/他去过中国/她/他去過中國 tā qù guo Zhōngguó (she/he has been to China [before]). | |
CHARACTER Hànzì 汉字/漢字 | The basic writing unit of Chinese (§4.4 and §4.5). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
Associative huìyì 会意/會意 | A character formed by two or more pictograms or ideograms, e.g., 明 míng (bright); also known as a joined-meanings character. | |
Ideographic zhǐshì 指事 | A character formed by an indicative symbol, e.g., 一 yī (one), 二 èr (two), 三 sān (three). | |
Pictographic xiàngxíng 象形 | A character formed by a single pictogram, i.e., a visual representation of the meaning, e.g., 山 shān (mountain). | |
Pictophonetic xíngshēng 形声/形聲 | A character formed by joining a semantic and a phonetic component, e.g., 妈/媽 mā (mother) in which the semantic part is 女 (nǚ, female) and the phonetic part is 马/馬 mǎ (horse); also known as a phonetic-semantic compound. | |
Radical bùshǒu 部首 | A semantic component of a character indicating its broad category and relatedness, e.g., the radical 女 (nǚ, female) from the character 妈/媽 mā (mother). Most characters have radicals. | |
| CLAUSE | A sentence-like unit within a sentence, containing a subject and predicate, e.g., 我希望你高兴/我希望你高興 wǒ xīwàng nǐ gāoxìng (I hope you are happy) (§18.1.2). | |
| Main | A clause carrying the core idea in a complex sentence, e.g., 她/他病了, 所以没去上课/她/他病了, 所以沒去上課 tā bìng le, suǒyǐ měi qù shàng-kè (she/he was sick; thus, she/he did not go to class) (Chapter 29). | |
| Relative | A gapped clause modifying a noun and linked to the noun with the gap, e.g., 她/他买的书很新/她/他買的書很新 tā mǎi de shū hěn xīn (the book that she/he bought is new), the object is missing and linked to the noun (§16.1.1). | |
| Subordinate | A clause that is dependent on, and typically precedes, the main clause to express a supplementary meaning of a complex sentence, e.g., 她/他病了，所以没去上课/她/他病了, 所以沒去上課 tā bìng le, suǒyǐ měi qù shàng-kè (she/he was sick; thus, he did not go to class) (Chapter 29). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
CONJUNCTION liáncí 连词/連詞 | conj. | A word linking two linguistic units (words, phrases, clauses, or sentences), e.g., 我会说中文和英文/我會說中文和英文 wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén hé Yīngwén (I can speak Chinese and English) (Chapter 15). |
| GRAMMAR | The rules for constructing sentences and meanings (Chapter 2). | |
MEASURE WORD liàngcí 量词/量詞 | MW | A word that serves as a counting unit for nouns and expresses some properties of the noun, e.g., 三本书/三本書 sān běn shū (three books); also known as a classifier (Chapter 8). |
NOUN míngcí 名词/名詞 | N | A word that serves as a name for an entity, concept, or event, e.g., 我是学生/我是學生 wǒ shì xuésheng (I am a student) (Chapter 6). |
NUMBER shùcí 数词/數詞 | A word that stands for a number, e.g., 一 yī (one), 二 èr (two), 十 shí (ten) (§7.1). | |
| Ordinal | A word that indicates the order of things, e.g., 第一 dì-yī (the first), 第三 dì-sān (the third) (§7.2). | |
PARTICLE zhùcí 助词/助詞 | part | A word that marks sentence types, such as stance or modality. It is typically monosyllabic and atonal (Chapter 16). |
| Aspectual | A particle attached to a verb, e.g., 了 le, 过/過 guo, and 着/著 zhe (see ASPECT). | |
| Mood | A particle that appears at the end of a sentence and indicates the sentence type, including mood and stance, e.g., 吗/嗎 ma for an interrogative sentence: 你是学生吗/你是學生嗎 nǐ shì xuésheng ma (are you a student?); 了 le for a new situation or a state change: 我是大学生了/我是大學生了wǒ shì dàxuéshēng le (I am a college student now); 呢 ne for a follow-up question: 我周末看电影，你呢/我週末看電影，你呢wǒ zhōumò kàn diànyǐng, nǐ ne (I will watch a movie on the weekend, how about you?), or for the introduction/affirmation of new information: 我看书呢/我看書呢 wǒ kàn-shū ne (I am studying now); 吧 ba for a non-assertive question: 你会说中文吧/你會說中文吧 nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ba (you can speak Chinese, right?), or for concessive consent: 好吧 hǎo ba (all right) (§16.3). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
| Structural | A particle that marks the relation of the components that it links in a sentence, e.g., 的 de links the attributive (modifier, including relative clause) and the head noun (modified) as in 我的书/我的書 wǒ de shū (my book); 地 de links a manner adverbial and a verb as in 她/他很高兴地唱歌/她/他很高興地唱歌 tā hěn gāoxìng de chàng-gē (she/he sang happily); and 得 de links a complement to the verb as in 她/他说得很快/她/他說得很快 tā shuō de hěn kuài (she/he speaks fast) (§16.1). | |
PATIENT (RECEIVER) | An undergoer at the receiving end of an action, e.g., 她/他吃苹果/她/他吃蘋果 tā chī píngguǒ (she/he eats apples) (Chapter 22). | |
| PHRASE | A linguistic unit formed by the combination of words, which can then be combined to form a sentence following grammatical rules (Chapter 2). | |
| Noun | NP | A phrase with a noun/pronoun as its head (italicized) that performs the grammatical function of a sentence element, e.g., 很多学生在图书馆努力地学习中文/很多學生在圖書館努力地學習中文 hěn duō xuésheng zài túshūguǎn nǔlì de xuéxí Zhōngwén (many students study Chinese diligently at the library). |
| Verb | VP | A phrase with a verb as its dependents, such as the object, complement, or other modifiers. It functions as the main predicate in a sentence, e.g., (小明)学习中文/(小明)學習中文 xuéxí Zhōngwén (study Chinese) in the NP example sentence above. It can also be an element, e.g., the object of 喜欢 xǐhuan (like) as in 小明喜欢学习中文/小明喜歡學習中文 Xiǎomíng xǐhuan xuéxí Zhōngwén (Xiaoming enjoys studying Chinese). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
| Prepositional | PP | A phrase contains a preposition and a noun phrase as its object, e.g., 在图书馆/在圖書館zài túshūguǎn (at the library) in the NP example sentence above. |
| PREFIX | A syllable attached to the front of a word/stem to form a new word, e.g., 小 xiǎo as in 小明 Xiǎomíng (young/little Ming) (§6.5). | |
PREPOSITION jiècí 介词/介詞 | P/prep | The word in a prepositional phrase that indicates the relation between the object of a noun phrase and the event described by the verb, such as time, place, reason, instrument, or object. For example, 从 cóng (from) in 我从外国来/我從外國來 wǒ cóng wàiguó lái (I came from a foreign country) (Chapter 14). |
PRONOUN dàicí 代词/代詞 | pr | A word that functions as a noun phrase and represents a previously used word, e.g., 我 wǒ (I), 她/他 tā (she/he), 怎么 zěnme (how) (Chapter 9). |
| Demonstrative | A word to “point” to what is referred to in context, e.g., 这/這 zhè (this) and 那 nà (that); time 这会儿/這會兒 zhèhuìr (now), 那会儿/那會兒 nàhuìr (then); place 这儿/這兒 zhèr/这里/這裏 zhèlǐ (here), 那儿/那兒 nàr/那里/哪裏 nàlǐ (there); manner/degree 这么/這麼 zhème (this way), 那么/那麼 nàme (that way), 这样/這樣 zhèyàng (like this), and 那样/那樣 nàyàng (like that) (§9.2). | |
| Interrogative | A question word, e.g., 谁/誰 shéi (who), 什么/什麼 shénme (what), 哪儿/哪兒 nǎr (where), 怎么/怎麼 zěnme (how) (§9.3). | |
| Personal | A word standing for a noun, e.g., 我 wǒ (I), 你 nǐ (you), 他 tā (he), 她 tā (she), 它 tā (it), 大家 dàjiā (everyone, all) (§9.1). | |
SENTENCE ELEMENT jùzi chéngfen 句子成分 | A linguistic unit that plays a grammatical role in a sentence, also known as component (Chapters 2 and 17). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
Adverbial zhuàngyǔ 状语/狀語 | An element that modifies and restricts the predicate, e.g., 我们都是学生/我们都是學生wǒmen dōu shì xuésheng (we all are students) (§21.2). | |
Attributive dìngyǔ 定语/定語 | An element that modifies and restricts a noun phrase or a noun, e.g., 新学生喜欢这所学校/新學生喜歡這所學校xīn xuésheng xǐhuan zhèi suǒ xuéxiào (new students like this school) (§21.1). | |
Complement bǔyǔ 补语/補語 | C/comp | An element that provides additional information on the manner, result, or state of the predicate and occurs after the predicate. The five types of complements are: Resultative, 她/他听懂了/她/他聽懂了tā tīng.dǒng le (she/he understood by listening); Manner, 她/他说得很好/她/他說得很好 tā shuō de hěn hǎo (she/he speaks very well); Potential, 她/他说得好/她/他說得好 tā shuō de hǎo (she/he can speak well); Directional, 她/他进来了/她/他進來了 tā jìnlai le (she/he came in); Quantitative, 她/他说了两遍/她/他說了兩遍tā shuō le liǎng biàn (she/he spoke twice) (Chapter 20). |
Object bīnyǔ 宾语/賓語 | O/obj | An element that undergoes the activity or change described by the predicate, e.g., 她/他吃苹果/她/他吃蘋果 tā chī píngguǒ (she/he eat apples) (Chapter 19). Some verbs can take two objects. The one that directly undergoes the activity or change is the Direct Object. The one affected by the full event of [Predicate + Direct Object] is the Indirect Object, which is typically considered to be the recipient of a transfer. For example, 老师教我们中文/老師教我們中文 lǎoshī jiāo wǒmen Zhōngwén (the teacher teaches us Chinese); 中文 Zhōngwén (Chinese) is the direct object, the content being taught; and 我们/我們 wǒmen (us) is the indirect object (§19.3). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
Predicate wèiyǔ 谓语/謂語 | P | The core element of the sentence that defines the event that other elements, such as the subject, are involved in, e.g., 她/他学中文/她/他學中文 tā xué Zhōngwén (she/he studies Chinese (§18.2). |
Subject zhǔyǔ 主语/主語 | S/subj | An element central to the event that the predicate describes, e.g., 我是学生/我是學生 wǒ shì xuésheng (I am a student) (§18.1). |
| SUFFIX | A syllable that is attached to the end of a word, e.g., the personal plural 们/們 men in 学生们/學生們 xuéshēngmen (students) (§6.5). | |
| SYLLABLE | The basic phonological unit corresponding to a character that contains a vowel sound, e.g., 她/他 tā (she/he) (§3.2). | |
Initial shēngmǔ 声母/聲母 | The consonant at the beginning of a syllable, such as m in mā (妈/媽 mother). | |
Final yùnmǔ 韵母/韻母 | The non-initial part of the syllable, which contains at least one vowel and possibly an ending nasal consonant, e.g., an in nán (男 male). | |
Tone shēngdiào 声调/聲調 | The lexical pitch of a syllable. There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese, e.g., the first tone (high level tone) such as mā (妈/媽 mother), second tone (rising tone) such as má (麻 numb; hemp), third tone (contour tone) such as mǎ (马/馬 horse), and fourth tone (falling tone) such as mà (骂 /罵 scold) (§3.3). | |
VERB dòngcí 动词/動詞 | V | A word that represents an action or a state, and is the main part of the predicate of a sentence, e.g., 学/學 xué (study) in 我学中文/我學中文 wǒ xué Zhōngwén (I study Chinese) (Chapter 10). |
| Intransitive | vi | A verb that takes no object, e.g., 哭 kū (cry) in 她/他哭了 tā kū le (she/he cried) (§10.2). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
| Modal | A verb, also known as an Auxiliary Verb, that occurs before another verb to express the moods of a sentence, such as willingness, ability, possibility, permission, necessity, or obligation, e.g., 可以 kěyǐ (may) in 小亮可以请假/小亮可以請假 Xiǎoliàng kěyǐ qǐng-jià (Xiaoliang may ask for leave) (Chapter 11). | |
| Transitive | vt | A verb that takes one or two objects, e.g., 看 kàn (look; watch) in 看电影/看電影 kàn diànyǐng (watch movie). A few verbs can take two objects, e.g., 教 jiāo (teach), 给/給 gěi (give), and 问/問 wèn (ask) (§10.1). |
| VERB-OBJECT COMPOUND | V-O/VO | A compound word formed with a verb and its object (noun). Many V-O compounds can be separated in a sentence, but they usually function as intransitive verbs when they are not separated, e.g., 看书/看書 kàn-shū (lit. look-book; to study/read) in 她/他在图书馆看书/她/他在圖書館看書 tā zài túshūguǎn kàn-shū (she/he studies at the library); the same compound can be separated to form a VP, e.g., 她/他在图书馆看中文书/她/他在圖書館看中文書 tā zài túshūguǎn kàn Zhōngwén shū (she/he reads Chinese books at the library) (§10.3). |
| VERB-COMPLEMENT | V-C/VC | A compound word formed with a verb and its complement (Chapter 20). The form VC specifically refers to a verb and its resultative complement. The VC construction is inseparable and should be considered as a single unit (resultative complement is italicized below), e.g., 听懂/聽懂 tīng.dǒng (to understand [on hearing]) in 我听懂了/我聽懂了wǒ tīng.dǒng le (I [listened and] understood) (§20.1). |
| WORD | A minimal meaningful free unit in a language (Chapter 2 and §4.1). |
| Term | Abbreviation | Gloss1 |
|---|---|---|
| WORD ORDER | The sequential order of words in a sentence; a pattern that results from the grammatical rules of a language, e.g., the basic word order in Chinese is Subject-Verb-Object, and the modifier typically precedes the modified, i.e., the head noun comes last in a noun phrase, and the adverbial precedes the predicate in a sentence (§2.3 and Chapter 21). | |
| SVO | An abbreviation for subject-verb-object word order. | |
| SVC | An abbreviation for the subject-verb-complement word order |
1 Keywords are in bold.
