Saturday, August 24, 2013

Level B1 Making Question with the 是……的 Sentence Structure

A warm reminder: click the video in this post, you will see the pinyin and hear my reading of the example sentences.
If you are not familiar with the 是……的 sentence structure yet, maybe it will be better to read  Level B1 Sentence Structure 是…… 的 first before you start to read this post.

In this post, we will continue to talk about the 是…… 的 sentence structure. Specifically we are going to make questions based on the original declarative sentence examples mentioned in the post Level B1 Sentence Structure 是…… 的

He went to Xi'an yesterday.
他昨天去了西安。


To emphasize that he went to Xi'an yesterday, not another day.
昨天去西安
If we have question about what time he went to Xi'an, we may ask, "When did he go to Xi'an? " 
哪天去西安? ( The only thing we need to do is replace the time part with the question word 哪天 (which day, when)
Sometime, we can omit 是 in above question, then we get:
哪天去西安

(Notice that here we can not drop the 的 at the end of the question. If so, then meaning of 他哪天去西安?will be "When will he go to Xi'an?" )



He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安。


To emphasize the time part:
昨天坐飞机去西安
To ask about the time information:
哪天坐飞机去西安?

To clarify that he took plane, not train or bus.
他昨天坐飞机去西安
To ask about the way of transportation he used to go to Xi'an yesterday:
他昨天怎么去西安?    (Now we just replace the transportation way 坐飞机 (by plane) with 怎么 (how, in what way or method))




He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday to visit a friend.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安去见一个朋友。

To clarify the time:
昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
To ask about the time information:
哪天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友?

To emphasize the way of transportation:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
To ask about the way of transportation he used to go to Xi'an yesterday:
他昨天怎么去西安去见一个朋友?
Or we can make the question simpler by drop some information that is not really necessary ( in this situation,去见一个朋友, to visit a friend, is not really necessary)  in our question:
他昨天怎么去西安?


To emphasize the purpose:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
To ask about the purpose or reason why he went to Xi'an
他昨天坐飞机去西安为什么?  ( Here we replace the purpose 去见一个朋友, to visit a friend, with the question word 为什么(why, for what reason) . Also please notice that we drop the 的 at the end of the sentence, otherwise it will sound awkward. )
Or we can ask this question without the 是……的 structure:
为什么他昨天坐飞机去西安?   
or 
为什么他昨天去西安?
But there is a little difference between the two ways to ask question. With 是……的 structure, we show more curiosity about the reason.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Level B1 Negative Sentence of Sentence Structure 是…… 的

My suggestion is that you read Level B1 Sentence Structure 是……的 first before you start to read the following content.

The previous post: Level B1 Sentence Structure 是……的 covers basic rules of making 是……的 structure sentence. This post will cover how to make negative sentence in this structure.

To make negative 是…… 的 sentence, you only need to add 不 before 是.

Now I am going to review those examples, then make the negative sentences of them.

He went to Xi'an yesterday.
他昨天去了西安。

To emphasize that he went to Xi'an yesterday, not another day.  
昨天去西安

But, if he actually went to Xi'an the day before yesterday, not yesterday, you want to deny the time information. Then we need to make a negative sentence by adding 不 before 是 to emphasize that it's NOT yesterday.

It's not yesterday when he went to Xi'an.
不是昨天去西安

He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安。

To emphasize the time part:
昨天坐飞机去西安
The negative sentence will be :
不是昨天坐飞机去西安

To clarify that he took plane, not train or bus.
他昨天坐飞机去西安
The negative sentence will be:
他昨天不是坐飞机去西安。  ( Maybe he went to Xi'an by train.)

He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday to visit a friend.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安去见一个朋友。

To clarify the time:
昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
The negative sentence will be:
不是昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友

To emphasize the way of transportation:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
The negative sentence will be:
他昨天不是坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友

To emphasize the purpose:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友
The negative sentence will be:
他昨天坐飞机去西安不是去见一个朋友。 (Maybe he went to Xi'an to have a meeting. )

Related posts:
Making Question with 是……的 structure
Level B1 Sentence Structure 是……的



Level B1 Sentence Structure 是…… 的

A warm reminder: click the video in this post, you will see the pinyin and hear my reading of the example sentences. 

"是……的" is a special sentence structure to emphasize or clarifying part of the detail information. It is used very often in everyday Chinese. One thing worth noting is that this sentence structure is mainly used when the action took place in the past.

The basic rule of how to transfer a normal sentence into a 是……的 sentence structure is: first, find the part that you want to clarify or emphasize, then add 是 before that part and add 的 at the end of the sentence.

Let's get better understanding of this sentence structure through some examples from simple ones to complex ones.

Original sentence:

 He went to Xi'an yesterday.
他昨天去了西安。

Notice that 了 is used to imply the action already completed in the past.

If you want to emphasize that he went to Xi'an yesterday, not another day.  Then the time part of the sentence should be emphasize, so we add 是 in front of 昨天, and add 的 at the end of the sentence. Also, please note that you need to drop the 了 in the original sentence.

昨天去西安
(The meaning more like: It's yesterday when he went to Xi'an)


Now I am adding more information into the original sentence:

He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安。


 To emphasize the time part:
昨天坐飞机去西安

 Maybe you want to clarify that he took plane, not train or bus. Then you need to add 是 before the way of transportation and add 的 at the end of the sentence.
他昨天坐飞机去西安


Again I am adding more information into the original sentence:

He went to Xi'an by plane yesterday to visit a friend.
他昨天坐飞机去了西安去见一个朋友。


To clarify the time:
昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友

To emphasize the way of transportation:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友

To emphasize the purpose:
他昨天坐飞机去西安去见一个朋友


Now it's your turn. Try to do the following exercise. Type your answer as comments to get feedback from me. :)
 She went to Britain to learn English.
   她去英国学英语。
 1. Write your sentence with 是…… 的 structure to emphasize the place is Britain not anywhere else.
2. Write your sentence with 是…… 的 structure to clarify that her purpose is to learn English not any subject else.

Ralted posts:
How to make negative sentence with 是……的 structure
Making question with 是……的structure
More complete information about this sentence structure can be found at Chinese Grammar Wiki.



Sunday, August 11, 2013

Chinese Calligraphy ( Fraction of a Beautiful Poem -- The Falling Flowers)

唐寅(1470-1523)是明代著名的画家。通常人们认为唐寅的画胜诗,诗胜字。因此其诗名书名长期为画名所掩,留传的诗作和书作也不多。
Tangyin was a famous artist in Ming dynasty. His name is well known for his paintings, which are far more popular than his poems and calligraphy. 
或许是机缘巧合,我开始学习写行书时,使用的第一本字帖就是他的《落花诗册》。
It's a karma I have with his poems that my first copybook for calligraphy is his Poems of Falling Flowers.




Translation:
Suddenly gone away the beautiful spring
Along with all the lovely scenery in my garden
No wine can take away my sadness
Even the plum doesn't taste good any more






Friday, August 9, 2013

Usage of 都, 都不, 不都

都, which basically means all, is an adverb that shows up in our daily talk with very high frequency. It is very unique that 都 can only refer to plural things which precede it, and has the effect of 'totaling' the plural or collective noun.


陈述句 Declarative sentence

In English, there are 'both and all' to describe two or more subjects having the same feature or do the same action. 都 covers 'both' and 'all'. 
For example,
I am a teacher.               -->  我是老师。
You are a teacher.         -->  你是 老师。
(There are two teachers now.)
We are both teachers.     -->  我们是老师。
He is also a teacher.        -->  他是老师。
(There are more than two teachers now.)
We are all teachers.        -->  我们是老师。


否定句 Negative sentence

There are two different negative sentences.

'both not' and 'all not' negative sentence

For example,
I am not a teacher.         -->  我不是老师。
You are not a teacher.    -->  你不是老师。
(Two people both are not teachers.)
Both of us are not teachers.      -->  我们都不是老师。
He is not a teacher either.                 -->  他也不是老师。
(More than two people are not teachers.)
All of us are not teachers. / None of us are teachers.   -->  我们都不是老师。

'not both' and 'not all' negative sentence

For example,
I am not a teacher.             -->  我不是老师。
You are a teacher.              -->  你是老师。
Not both of us are teachers.    -->   我们不都是老师。
He is a teacher.                   --> 他是老师。
Not all of us are teachers.   -->   我们不都是老师。


Now it's your turn. Please translate one of the following sentences into Chinese and type as your comment to get feedback from me.

  1. We both eat breakfast.
  2. They all want to go.
  3. None of them wants to go.
  4. Neither of his parents likes hiking.
  5. The apple is expensive. The pear is not expensive. Not all the fruit is expensive.






Saturday, August 3, 2013

A Folk Song-- Cowboy's Song 民歌-- 牧童之歌



This song is the very first song I learned when I was in the elementary school. It's a Kazak folk song. It has been engraved in my heart. Since I have been living in Montana, U.S. The beautiful stunning scenery I see everyday just reminds me of this song.

I made this Youtube video to show you how to sing this song. Also you will learn some useful vocabulary. 







The detailed explanation of the lyrics:

(Click the video below the explanation, you will hear my reading of the text. ) 


歌名:牧童之歌
Title: Cowboy's Song
 牧童,  cowboy;  But in my opinion 牧童 only refers to the cowboy who is very young, around 10 to 18 years old. Another word can be used to all the cowboys -- 牛仔.  


红太阳从 天山 慢慢地爬上
Slowly rising up the red sun above the Tianshan Mountain

红太阳, the red sun; 从 , from; 天山, name of the mountain, which is a large system of mountain ranges located in central Asia. 慢慢地, slowly; 爬, climb; 上, up; 爬上, climb up;

风吹绿草,草儿把头扬
Green grasses are waving their head when the wind is blowing
风, wind; 吹, blow;绿草, green grass; 草儿, grass; 把, is a very important part of '把 sentence' ( Ba sentence structure). In this sentence structure, the object is moved in front of the verb. 头, head;扬, raise. 

Here, 草儿把头扬,  literally means: the grass 把 head raise. 'Grass' is the subject, 'raise' is the verb, 'head' is the object. The object is moved in front of the verb.

骑上骏马扬起鞭
Ride on my horse, flick the whip
骑上, ride on; 骏马, fine horse, steed; 扬, raise; 起, up; 扬起, raise up; 鞭, a whip or lash;

赶着牛羊下河滩
Herd my cattle and sheep down to the river shore
赶, to hurry, to rush, to drive away; 着, implies the progressive tense, the action is taking place; 牛, cow,ox; 羊, sheep, goat; 下, get down; 河滩, the river shore; ( does river shore or river beach work here? I am a little confused about the translation here.)

唱上一首歌呀
Sing, sing a song
唱, sing; 上, here implies the action of singing starts (my opinion only); 一首歌, a song, 首 is the measure word for song; 呀, a modal particle.

心花开放
My heart is full of joy...

心, heart; 花, flower; 开放, open, unfold; Literally this sentence means the flower in my heart is opening, blooming now. That's a beautiful way to say 'I am so happy'.  :)