1. The conjunction 還 是 :
The conjunction 還 是 indicates alternative. It’s English equivalent is ‘ or ’. The Chinese
conjunction 還 是 is normally used in interrogative sentences. For example:
1。 (是 )你 還 是 她 明 天 去 看 媽 媽 ？ (The choice is between the subjects 你 and 她 )
(Shì) nĭ háishì tā míngtiān qù kàn māma?
Will she or you go to see mom tommorrow?
2。 你 喝 茶 還 是 喝 咖 啡 ？ ( The choice is between the objects 茶 and 咖 啡 )
Nĭ hē chá háishì hē kāfēi?
Do you drink tea or coffee?
3。 她 想 看 書 還 是 寫 字 ？ ( The choice is between verb phrases 看 書 and 寫 字 )
Tā xiăng kàn shū háishì xiĕ zì?
Does she want to read or write?
4。 今 天 晚 上 你 八 點 還 是 九 點 來 ？ ( The choice is between time words 八 點 and 九 點 )
Jīntiān wănshang nĭ bā diăn háishì jiŭ diăn lái?
Will you come at eight or nine tonight?
Conjunction 還 是 can also be used in an declarative sentence with the implication of uncertainty.
For instance:
5。 我 不 知 道 她 是 中 國 人 還 是 日 本 人 。
Wŏ bù zhīdào tā shì Zhōngguó rén háishì Rìbĕn rén.
I don’t know whether she is Chinese or Japanese.
2. Topic construction:
Consider this sentence:
6。 我 口 很 渴 。 Wŏ kŏu hĕn kĕ. (As for) me, the mouth is thirsty.
This is a very special type of Chinese sentence that need to identified. The character 我 is
grammatically considered a ‘ topic ’, on which the rest of sentence, a subject-predicate construction,
comments. The topic can be roughly translated into English as ‘as for’, ‘speaking of’ . Let’s look at
some more examples.
7。 小 謝 的 女 朋 友 人 很 好 。
Xiăo Xiè de n ǚ péngyou rén hĕn hăo.
(Speaking of Xie’s girlfriend, her personality is nice.
8。 我 們 學 院 老 師 很 好 ， 學 生 也 很 好 。
Wŏmen xuéyuàn lăoshī hĕn hăo, xuésheng yĕ hĕn hăo.
( As for ) our college, the teachers are good, so are the students.
3. The plural measure 些 :
The demonstrative pronouns 這 ， 那 and interrogative pronoun 哪 can indicate the plural by
adding 些 to them. For example:
9。 這 些 書 是 誰 的 ？ 是 以 前 的 那 位 漢 語 老 師 的 。
Zhè xiē shū shì shéi de? Shì yĭqián de nà wèi Hànyŭ lăoshī de.
Whose books are those? (They) are the previous Chinese teacher’s.
10。 小 丁 很 喜 歡 那 些 中 國 民 歌 錄 音 帶 。
Xiăo Dīng hĕn xĭhuan nà xiē Zhōngguó míngē lùxiàngdài.
Ding likes those tapes of Chinese folk songs very much.
11。 哪 些 歌 是 現 代 的 ？ 哪 些 歌 是 古 典 的 ？
Nă xiē gē shì xiàndài de? Nă xiē gē shì gŭdài de?
Which songs are modern? Which songs are classical?
The plural 些 can also be added to the numeral 一 , which means ‘some’ in English:
12。 音 樂 有 各 種 各 樣的 ， 人 也有 各 種 各 樣 的 ； 所 以 ， 一 些 人 喜 歡 流 行 曲 ，
一 些 人喜 歡 古 典 曲 。
Yīnyuè yŏu gèzhŏng gèyàng de, rén yĕ yŏu gèzhŏng gèyàng de; suŏyĭ, yì xiē rén xĭhuan liúxíng qŭ,
yì xiē rén xĭhuan gŭdiăn qŭ.
Music, there are different kinds, and people, there are different kind, too; therefore, some
like popular music, some like classical music.
Note that whenever plural 些 is added, there is no need to use another measure word; also it can
only be used with the number one: 一 些 ‘a few’.
4. 來 as a causative verb:
Look at the sentence from the dialogue in Lesson Nineteen.
13。 來 一 杯 (百 事 可 樂 )。
Lái yì bēi (băishì kĕlè).
“Please make a cup of Pepsi come.” / “Please serve/bring a cup of Pepsi. he use of causative verbs
in Literary Chinese is very common. But in Modern Chinese, there are only a few which can be used
in a causative sense. The most often seen are 來 shown above; 上 ‘to make it come up’ and 出 ‘ to
make it come out ’. Let’s see some more examples:
14。 先 生 ， 幾 點 上 菜 ？
Xiānsheng, jĭ diăn shàng cài?
“Sir, what time will you make the dishes come up?”/ “Sir, when dishes will be served?”
15。 聽 說 你 要 出 一 本 書了 ， 對 嗎 ？
Tīngshuō nĭ yào chū yì bĕn shū le, duì ma?
“I heard that you are going make a book come out, right?”
/ “I heard that you are going to publish a book, right?
