Go Back

Language Phenomenon of Inversion in Mandarin

Some of the foreign learners may feel confused with the inversed Chinese sentence structures when they attend to Chinese school to study in China. In normal conditions, the subject is always placed before the predicate and the modifying part is always used before the head words. In addition, the object and complement should be placed after the predicate. However, in some cases, such kinds of orders can be changes and inverted. Several conditions of inversion in Chinese language will be introduced in the following parts.

The first condition will be introduced is to put the subject in the back part such as 快进来吧,你and修好了吧,那辆车. Another common condition is the inversion of the modifying part like 九点半了,都and掉点儿了,已经. When you see the sentences with the same form as 不会再地震了,估计, you should know the object is put in the former place.

For the sentence气都喘不过来了,跑得, you can see the place of the complement is moved to the former part. In addition, the students who learn Chinese language might be taught that the two parts before and after the series verb construction are inverted. For instance, 上北海去了,带着孩子. Of course, all of those are more often used in oral Chinese. The parts being placed in the former place are the contents the speakers are eager to express and come out from the mouth naturally. The later part has the function of making supplement.

In the earlier years, many Chinese grammar books seemed to regard the recipient as the paten of the object. Therefore, the recipient in subject is not admitted. When it comes to the sentences such as 碗打碎了and风凉话谁不会说,they are explained as put the subject to the former part. However, all of them do not belong to the sentences of inversion. The real sentence of inversion to put the object to the former part is the type like 他出国了,听说. Therefore, the students should make it clear which kind of inversion it belongs to so that to understand the meaning clearly. 

Exit mobile version