Americans are fond of referring to their country as "the greatest nation on earth". Until recently, I didn't believe any country deserved that description. But today I think there is a strong contender for the title.

China is the world's oldest living civilisation. It has recovered from over a century of colonial oppression and lifted its citizens out of poverty. As its growth continues, China is poised to become the world's largest economy and a technology leader that is second to none. By 2030, I believe it will be an indisputable fact that China is the greatest nation on earth.

I need to understand China, from a Chinese perspective. This is my journey.

Saturday 23 October 2021

The Simplicity Of Chinese Grammar - 7 (Reliably Stable Building Blocks)

I should have posted on this topic a long time ago, but better late than never.

It's fashionable to say that learning Chinese is hard, but I have found it easy right from the start. And that's because its grammar is both simple and logical.

Just take these two simple sentences in English, for example.

1. I love her

2. She loves me

They look very simple to a native speaker of English, but look at these two sentences again from the perspective of a student who knows no English at all.

Notice that when the pronoun changes from being the subject to being the object, it changes form to an unrecognisable extent.

"I" becomes "me". "She" becomes "her".

Notice also that the verb changes slightly.

When the subject is in the singular, the verb is "loves". When the subject is in the plural, the verb becomes "love". And there's an exception too! The subject "I" is singular, but the verb needs to treat it as plural, hence "I love" rather than "I loves".

So many rules and exceptions! They're really hard to remember for a new student of the language.

Now look at the corresponding statements in Mandarin.

1. 我 爱 她 wǒ ài tā ("I love her", literally "I love she")

2. 她 爱 我 tā ài wǒ ("She loves me", literally "She love I")

There is no change in the pronoun regardless of the case in which it is used. And there is no change in the form of the verb regardless of the number or gender of the subject. Check it out:

a. 他 爱 我 tā ài wǒ ("He loves me", literally "He love I"). There's no change to the verb when the gender of the subject changes.

b. 他们 爱 我 tāmen ài wǒ ("They love me", literally "They love I"). There's no change to the verb when the number of the subject changes.

How can one not find this a simple language to learn??

As one of my latest Duolingo lessons averred,

我 觉得 中文 的 语法 不 太 难 wǒ juédé zhōngwén de yǔfǎ bù tài nán ("I think Chinese grammar is not too difficult")

I had no difficulty agreeing with that statement.

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