• Syntax

    1) noun phrase

    yi’21
    one
    za’21
    CL
    gou34
    dog-1sg
    one dog
    comments:  classifiers always precede quantified Chinese nouns

    3) Prepositional phrase

    vang13zi
    house-1sg
    li13xiang55
    inside
    inside house
    comments: all prepositions in Pudonghua are bimorphemic

    4) Word order(transitive) SVO

    nv13nin55
    man-1sg
    dang35le
    hit-1sg-PST
    gou34.
    dog-1sg
    The man has hit the dog.

    5) Declarative Sentence 2 (intransitive)

    ni13
    I
    zou21
    walk-PST
    le.
    INT
    I left.

    6) Yes/no questions

    nong34
    you
    hao21
    good
    fa?
    QUES
    Are you OK?
    comments:  A yes/no question always has a question marker at the end.

    7) Content questions

    nv1nin55
    man-SB
    dang35
    hit
    le
    PST
    sa13?
    what?
    What did the man hit?

    Language Documentation Training Center