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?