When the overseas students begin to attend to school to study in China, they usually learn the part of speech of Chinese words. If they learn too many kinds of words at a time, it is easy for them to become confused. However, there is a classification of Chinese words needs much special attention of the learners, that is, the separable words. As a matter of fact, the separable words in Mandarin can be divided into three styles, the verb-object type, verb-complement and the combination style. The first type will be illustrated in the following parts.

It is easy to understand the verb-object type only from the name such as 操心、理发and跳舞. In addition, more detailed classifications of such kind of separable words are divided by Duan Yehui. He believed there are four categories as follows. For eh first classification, the morphemes that indicate the action and behavior can function as words independently while the morphemes that indicate the objects that are related to the actions and behaviors usually can’t act as words alone. Here are some typical words of this type: 塌方、傻眼、倒霉、冲澡、签约、破例、吃惊、见面、离婚、签字、道歉、散步, etc.

In the second type, the morphemes indicating the action and behavior can be independent words while the objects related to the act and behavior are allowed to be used as independent words. During the process of studying in Mandarin language courses in China, the students may be told that the words such as 迷路、冒险、结账、操心、开头、着急、留心and认错belong to this type.

Duan Yehui also classified the third classification that both conditions mentioned above can function as independent words. The most frequently used words of such kind should be 吸烟、生气、叹气、翻脸、算命、报名、睡觉、帮忙、担心and做梦and so on. The last but not least type is that the morphemes of both conditions can’t be used as independent words such as 结婚and释义. After knowing all of these categories mentioned above, learners will have a better understanding of the separable words of verb-object type.