For those foreign students who just begin to study Chinese language in Mandarin learning courses, they need to learn some basic grammar points to realize a better understanding of the Chinese language. One point they should learn is the structure 不但…而且… , which has the same meaning of not only, but also in English. During the process of reading Chinese books, they may often see the sentences like 他不但会说英语，而且还会法语.

As a matter of fact, 不但…而且… is applied to link a complex sentence. It is used to indicate a further development in meaning in the second clause from what is stated in the first one. If the two clauses share the same subject, 不但is used after the subject of the first clause. However, if the two clauses have different subjects, 不但is used before the subject of the first clause. You can understand it in the following two examples. 她不但喜欢唱歌，而且唱得不错and不但他会说汉语，而且她妹妹也会说汉语.

When you see the pattern …着呢 in the end of a sentence like 时间还早着呢, you need to know it is used after adjectives and some verbs expressing psychological states to indicate degree. The foreign learners who study Mandarin online should know the meaning of …着呢 is equivalent to 很(very). For example, 今天外边冷着呢is the same as 今天外边很冷, meaning it is very cold outside.

Of course, 都…了 is often seen in the Chinese books like 都七点五十五了，快走吧. When you attend to Chinese school to study Mandarin, teachers would tell you that the words used between 都and了are usually temporal words and numeral-classifier compounds to emphasize lateness, oldness or plenty. 都means already and it is not stressed in pronunciation. For example, you can make sentences like 都二十岁了，自己的事情应该自己做了.