Grammar is a greatly important factor in Chinese language, without which we can’t use the language correctly and logically. The point of this essay is to lead students who study in China to learn some basic grammar knowledge of the verbs.
Among different parts of speech, the verb is often seen and used when learners study Chinese. The verb is used to indicate the behavior and action, which is complicated in Chinese language. Even so different kinds of verbs have similar grammatical features.
To give some help for those who learn Mandarin in China, some common features are listed as follows. The main function of the verb in sentence is to act as the predicate. Most verbs can be negated by “不” and some can use “没”. What’s more, objects and the dynamic auxiliaries like “了”, “着” and “过” can be followed behind most verbs.
As a matter of the fact, verbs can be classified into different types according to various standards, which have different meanings and functions. Students learn Chinese in China must be familiar to the transitive verbs and the intransitive verbs, which are classified according to whether they can be followed by the objects.
We will discuss them respectively in order to provide some help for students learning Mandarin Chinese. The transitive verbs are the verbs which can take recipient objects, target objects and result objects such as “看（书）”, “写（字）”, “发动（群众）”, “挖（墙）”, “打（球）”, etc.
Some verbs express the caused-motion after having the objects. These verbs also belong to the transitive verbs. For example, the meaning of “去皮” is “使皮去掉”. Some other verbs of this kind are as follows: “下（蛋）”, “上（颜色）”, “出（汗）”, “平（地）”, etc.
In some certain language environment or context, most objects of the transitive verbs can be omitted. Here are two examples:
① 甲：你听录音吗？
已：听。
② 他昨天看过这部电影了，今天怎么又去看？
Under the conditions above, students who learn Mandarin should avoid misunderstanding it as they are intransitive verbs. However, the objects of the transitive verbs like “姓”, “叫”, “属于”, “具有”, “成为” and “等于” can’t be omitted.
The other type of verbs is the intransitive verbs, which can’t followed by objects and the recipient objects. Here are some words often used when you learn to speak Chinese. “着想”, “相反”, “斡旋”, “问世”, “通航”, “休息”, “指正”, “毕业”, “送行”, etc.
Some intransitive verbs can have non-recipient objects. There are three kinds of objects that the intransitive verbs can have, which you can learn from Chinese school in China.
The first type is the objects represent the place of the action or behavior such as “上山”, “回家”, “去上海”, “出国”, “下乡”, “出院”, etc. Some are the objects to indicate the behavior tools like “睡床” and “过筛子”. Last but not least, some are the existing objects to express existence, appearance and disappearance. For examples, “来了两个人”, “蹲着一个石狮子”, “死了一头牛”, etc.
Students who learn Chinese language in China should pay attention to some verb-object phrases, which are combined tightly and seems just like one word. But they can’t have objects. These phrases like “见面”, “握手” and “结婚” can’t be said as “见面他”, “握手你” and “结婚他”.
Another point emphasized in any qualified Mandarin program is that some words can be both transitive verbs and intransitive verbs for different meanings. The character “去” is an intransitive verb in “去南京” but transitive verb in “去皮”. Another one is “笑”, it is intransitive verb in “笑了” and transitive verb in “大家都笑他”.
After learning so much grammar knowledge of the verbs, we can pay attention to the usage of the verbs, thus helping us use them correctly.