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How to Approach Chinese Grammar

Earlier this spring, I asked an expert panel a difficult question: How should we
learn Chinese grammar? As I hoped, the answers were as insightful as they were
diverse. There are many ways of learning grammar and all have different strengths
we can add to our own study method. One of the experts I asked is John Pasden, well-
known for his blog Sinosplice, which was one of my main inspirations when I started
Hacking Chinese. As someone who has spent a lot of time and energy creating the
Chinese Grammar Wiki, its only natural that John thought that the few hundred
words available for the expert panel article werent enough. Therefore, he decided to
write a standalone article about how to approach Chinese grammar. And here it is!

What to Expect When Learning Chinese Grammar

Its best to approach a new, unfamiliar topic


without too many preconceptions, but there are two that I hear a lot in regards to
Chinese grammar, so I think its better to briefly address them both:

1. Chinese doesnt have grammar. OK, this is just silly. If there are no rules for how to
string Chinese words together, then you could never be wrong, right? Although that
sounds nice, its just not possible.

2. Chinese word order is just like English word order. While its true that there are
some basic similarities, and you can easily find examples like I love you that match
word for word, its not hard to disprove this. Even basic words like (y) will
constantly trip you up if you dont use them the Chinese way.
Youve also probably heard that Chinese grammar doesnt have verb conjugation, or
plurals, or cases, and a bunch of other stuff that we language learners generally associate
with not fun. What does all this add up to? It means that for someone who speaks
English, Chinese grammar is not going to stress you out too much. But still keep your
eyes out for interesting features and patterns different from English. You will find them.

The Learning Curve

I once compared learning Chinese grammar to learning Japanese grammar. My


conclusion is that Chinese grammar starts out pretty easily and ramps up gradually.
(Dont get too smug, though; while youre not getting flummoxed by Chinese grammar,
Chinese tones and characters are ravaging your poor little brain.)

The great thing about this is that it means get out there and talk is a great strategy. If
youve got the vocabulary and a few basic patterns down, grammar is not going to be
your biggest obstacle. If you cant find someone to talk to, then get reading as soon as
possible.

I recommend the following learning strategy:

1. Learn basic grammar patterns

2. Extend your knowledge with experimentation and input

3. Go back to grammar resources when you get confused or some grammatical issues just
really starts bugging you

Lets look at each in detail.

Learn Basic Grammar Patterns

You can find these in any grammar book. Its stuff like:

+ Verb = Want to [Verb]

or

Noun1 + + Noun2 + Adj = Noun1 is more [Adj] than Noun2

Sure, if you dig, you can find all kinds of weird exceptions and advanced forms, but to
delve into those right away is to waste the advantage provided by the gentle learning
curve. Put another way, its kind of hard to communicate in a language that requires
verbs to be conjugated if you havent learned to conjugate verbs at all. But heres this
language that doesnt require conjugations and has all kinds of simple patterns. Why
would you not want to just jump right in? Dont make it more complicated than it is!
If youre learning from textbooks or podcasts, they may or may not dwell on the finer
points of grammar. As a learner, though, you can choose to take just what you need and
get out there and start talking. Pack light. You dont need to finish reading up on all
the exceptions of each grammar point in order to have a conversation.

The Chinese Grammar Wiki was designed with this principle in mind. Rather than a
grammar course, its a resource. In other words, reference it when you need it. If you
dont need it, great! One of the Chinese Grammar Wikis key design elements is to break
grammar points down by levels. This can be tricky, because often there are finer points
of a particular words usage which actually go beyond the basic usage of the word. Often,
books will group these all together, a practice which confuses and discourages learners.

The solution we generally favor on the


Chinese Grammar Wiki for cases like this is to keep the basic grammar point at the
lower level, then create a sequel grammar point at a higher level. Obviously, the two
will be linked, but the point is to provide a level-appropriate explanation for the lower-
level learner so that he can get in and get out quickly. (Of course, if that learner wants
to go clicking down the grammatical rabbit hole, Wikipedia-style, we wont stop him.)

One example of this is Wanting to do something with yao, which is at the A1


(Beginner) level. Higher-level learners that take a look at this grammar point will be
thinking, hey, wait a minute, theres a lot more that can mean in Chinese! Very true.
We hold off until level A2 (Elementary) to introduce Auxiliary verb yao and its
multiple meanings.

The point is to just take what you need and go use it.

Extend Your Knowledge with Experimentation and Input

Once you have your basic grammar patterns and vocabulary down, and youre out there
practicing your Chinese, there are a few other things you can do to get the most out of
the experience.

1. Focus on meaning when you speak. Use the grammar points that you think will get your
point across. If they do, then great. Thats a good sign. If, however, youre repeatedly
using the same grammar point to express a certain idea, and no one seems to understand
what the heck youre talking about, you might want to try another approach, and
eventually revisit that stupid grammar point that didnt work for you.
2. Listen for recasting. Very often, native speakers will give you subtle corrections while
conversing with you. Many learners are blissfully unaware of these, but if you tune into
them, they can be an excellent way to improve your speaking (and its a way more
enjoyable way of getting corrective feedback than a pile of homework covered in red
ink!).

3. Go out there and try new patterns. Start conversations specifically to use a new
grammar pattern. This kind of experimentation might sound silly and not terribly
conducive to real conversation, but the results can be surprising. The way native speakers
respond to your shaky, early uses of new grammar patterns will reinforce the meaning
and usage of those patterns like nothing else. And you will have awesome conversations.

4. When you dont understand, dont get hung up on it. A lot of times the grammar,
though complex, isnt actually important to the topic at hand. The (b) construction is
a perfect example of this. If you really want to learn it properly, theres a lot to take in.
But you can also completely ignore it for quite a while and do just fine. If youre having
real conversations, ignore the pesky grammar patterns until you cant!

Following these four pieces of advice will allow you to get more input sooner. This will
help accelerate not only your acquisition of grammar, but also vocabulary, listening
comprehension, and speaking proficiency. The thing about language acquisition,
though, is that it is a largely unconscious process. So you wont necessarily FEEL the
effects of the input, but they will be at work in your brain.

As for the conscious part of the learning process, its crucial that you get out there and
make contact with the real language. It will breathe life into the grammar explanations
that you have already studied if you revisit them later. Furthermore, real
communication will fuel your motivation to better express yourself and understand the
precise meaning of what other people are saying to you. And lets face it thats what
grammar is for.

Go Back to Grammar Resources Later


One of my favorite stories I like to tell is
about a client of mine just starting on Intermediate material. She was studying
ChinesePod lessons, and like many of us, she struggled a bit when she first encountered
the (b) construction. The interesting thing, though, was her claim that, none of the
Chinese people I know use this.

I knew, of course, that her claim couldnt be true. The construction is a super-
common feature of spoken Mandarin, and theres no way that native speakers arent
using it on a regular basis. Sure, its possible to eliminate it in order to simplify ones
speech, but this client was claiming that the people around her werent using it at all.
But her feedback actually highlighted an important truth: she wasnt hearing the
construction at all.

And this is one of the things that most fascinates me about grammar: when youre ready
to learn a new grammar point, it will naturally come into focus. Little connector words
that you didnt even hear before will suddenly start to stand out. Although you were
once happy to just get the basic gist, your brain will start to hunger for a more precise
understanding of the grammar point in question.

When you start to get those grammar pangs, thats when you need to go to your
grammar resource, whether its Claudia Rosss Modern Mandarin Chinese
Grammar printed on a dead tree or the Chinese Grammar Wiki. They say of food that
hunger is the best sauce. The same is true for grammar. To do otherwise is to invite
indigestion.

Thanks, John! Im sure my readers found this article as interesting as I did.


Personally, I think the most important part of your article is the last two paragraphs.
Learning grammar based on what you intuitively feel that you need to know has been
a guiding principle for me as well. Naturally, this goes both for understanding
grammar and for using it yourself. The most powerful way of learning anything is to
have an actual need for it before you learn it! If you want to know more about John,
head over to Sinospliceand bookmark/subscribe; if you want to learn more about
grammar, head over to the Chinese Grammar Wiki!

Image credit: All images used in this article are from the Chinese Grammar Wiki and
are reproduced with explicit permission.

Do you want more practical exercises, audio versions of articles and Chinese
transaltions? Check out my Patreon page!

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Share this article:

Olle Linge

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

7 comments
7 comments

1. Scott Burgan says:

2014-05-07 at 22:06

Thanks for the article John! I must admit grammar is the one thing I feel I need
most at this point in my journey, yet its also the thing I can usually least be
bothered to do when I sit down to learn Chinese.

When I first started I went with an input and usage approach and it seemed to
work well and I progressed quickly. However after a while I began to stagnate. I
think using an input and usage based approach our brains will acquire what is
simple and easy to acquire. Less obvious grammar patterns and rules, however,
need to be pointed out to us in order to be acquired. Our brains seem to want to
do what is possible in our first language and we need to be made aware what isnt
possible with either negative feedback or descriptive rules.

Although my grammar still needs a lot more work. Two things have seemed to
work for me so far.

1) Writing, especially using website like lang-8, seems to be a great way of


eliciting feedback, at least more than spoken conversations where people are
reluctant to interrupt a person mid sentence to correct grammar mistakes. The
extra feedback and planning time that goes into writing seems great for grammar.

2) Learning rules and reading more, although learning rules has always been a
common way of learning grammar for me it is only really useful when paired with
a lot of reading. Examples of certain structures really seem to pop out of input
when you do learn a few rules and structures on the side. Just try to read more
intensively and think why is this written like this? Consider what affect the
grammar has on meaning.

I agree grammar is much more interesting when you learn it as it is needed.

Reply

1. John says:

2014-05-11 at 00:12
Youre welcome! Im glad you liked it.

Reply

2. Lili Woodlight says:

2014-05-10 at 05:44

I loved this part of the article, it made me laugh, because its so true:

They say of food that hunger is the best sauce. The same is true for grammar.
To do otherwise is to invite indigestion.

Reply

1. John says:

2014-05-11 at 00:13

No one wants grammar indigestion! Ugh.

Reply

3. George says:

2014-05-12 at 08:01

What I find the most frustrating is a lack of grammar exercises. As a non native
speaker, at the moment when I was learning English, Ive had hundreds of books,
websites, etc. Which included many exercises, especially focusing on little details
between two similar, yet different patterns.
Id love to have a book like that. Learning grammar would way easier.

Reply
4. Adam Ross says:

2014-09-16 at 23:31

Excellent article, but Im wondering if youre confusing the word input with
output input in the taking in of new vocabulary and patterns in the cognitive
act of acquisition of new language; output is the way learners use language
items in their own speech or writing.

Thanks for sharing these thoughts on learning Chinese, both here and elsewhere
in your blog.

Reply

1. Olle Linge says:

2014-09-17 at 03:30

Perhaps John can answer this himself, but as far as I can see, there is no
confusion here. Input usually refers to listening and reading, which is what
I think he means in this article. Perhaps you could be more specific so we
can sort out the misunderstanding?

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