1. Basic Word Order

One of the first things I teach my students is the word order in Mandarin. It’s comforting to know that Mandarin follows a similar pattern to English, at least in basic sentence structure. In both languages, we follow the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) format. For instance, in English, we say, "I eat apples," and in Mandarin, we say, 我吃苹果 (wǒ chī píngguǒ), which translates directly to "I eat apple." There’s no confusing change of word order, and this basic structure stays the same in most sentences, which makes it a comfortable starting point for English speakers.

2. Time words

But then comes the interesting part – time words. In Mandarin, time is very important, and we like to mention it earlier in our sentences. While in English we might say, "I ate an apple yesterday," in Mandarin we would say 我昨天吃苹果 (wǒ zuótiān chī píngguǒ), which directly translates to "I yesterday eat apple." See how the time word, "yesterday," comes right after "I"? It’s a small difference, but it helps to clearly express when something happened. If we really want to emphasize the time, we can even start the sentence with it: 昨天我吃苹果 (zuótiān wǒ chī píngguǒ) – "Yesterday, I ate an apple." It’s a flexible way of putting time first, and my students usually find it pretty intuitive after some practice.

3. Place Words

We use a similar structure when talking about where things happen. For example, in English, we say, "I eat lunch at school," but in Mandarin, we put the place before the action: 我在学校吃午饭 (wǒ zài xuéxiào chī wǔfàn), which translates to "I at school eat lunch." Once you understand the rhythm of placing time and location earlier in the sentence, constructing sentences in Mandarin feels like arranging pieces in a puzzle, where every part has its natural place.

4. Question Word Order

Now, one of the things that surprises my students is how we ask questions in Mandarin. In English, when we ask a question, we change the word order, like turning "You eat apples" into "Do you eat apples?" But in Mandarin, we keep the sentence structure the same and simply add the particle 吗 (ma) at the end. So, "You eat apples" – 你吃苹果 (nǐ chī píngguǒ) becomes "Do you eat apples?" – 你吃苹果吗 (nǐ chī píngguǒ ma)? It’s an easy way to turn a statement into a question without any extra complexity. For "wh-" questions, like "What are you eating?" we just keep the question word in the same position: 你吃什么 (nǐ chī shénme) – "You eat what?" Mandarin keeps it simple.

5. Adverbs

Another important aspect is the use of adverbs, which describe how often or how something is done. In Mandarin, adverbs like "always" or "quickly" come before the verb rather than after it, as is sometimes the case in English. For example, in English, we say, "I always eat apples," and in Mandarin, we say 我总是吃苹果 (wǒ zǒngshì chī píngguǒ), which directly translates to "I always eat apple." The adverb 总是 (zǒngshì) – "always" – comes before the verb 吃 (chī), keeping the sentence clear and easy to follow.
However, when comparing English and Mandarin for the sentence "She runs quickly," there are a few important differences in how adverbs are used in each language. In English, we typically place the adverb after the verb. For example: "She runs quickly." Here, the verb is "runs," and the adverb "quickly" comes right after it to describe how she runs. In Mandarin, however, the adverb comes before the verb. So, if you want to say "She runs quickly" in Mandarin, you would say: 她很快跑 (tā hěn kuài pǎo) In this case, 很快 (hěn kuài), which means "quickly" or "very fast," comes before the verb 跑 (pǎo), which means "run."

6. Multiple Verbs in a Sentence

Mandarin is also very straightforward when it comes to using verbs. In English, we often need to link verbs with extra words, like "I want to eat." But in Mandarin, we just use the two verbs together: 我想吃苹果 (wǒ xiǎng chī píngguǒ), which means "I want eat apple." There’s no need for extra connectors. It’s the same with actions like going somewhere to do something – 我去买东西 (wǒ qù mǎi dōngxi), meaning "I go buy something."

7. Modifiers (adjectives)

And lastly, when describing things, Mandarin uses 的 (de) to link adjectives to nouns. For example, if you want to say "a good book," you say 好的书 (hǎo de shū). It’s a simple way to show that the adjective "good" describes the noun "book." This structure is quite different from English, where we just place the adjective directly before the noun without any linking word, but once students get used to 的, it becomes second nature.

In the end, while Mandarin and English have some differences, the beauty of Mandarin is in its simplicity and logic. There’s no need to worry about changing verb forms for different tenses or rearranging sentences for questions. Once you get a feel for the rhythm of the language, Mandarin becomes like a melody – smooth, simple, and easy to follow. My students always tell me how much they appreciate the clarity of Mandarin after learning the basics, and I hope you’ll feel the same way too!

Anyone can learn Chinese, even if you think you have no talent for languages!

Feel free to contact me to schedule a trial lesson, join the event, or simply ask any question.