During the period when you go to school to study Mandarin, you may have heard Chinese people say巴掌大的地方. However, it does not mean that the nouns in Chinese language can functioned as adverbials freely. In fact, some nouns can really functioned as adverbial, but such kind of noun is really limited in number. In addition, the part after the noun usually modifies the verbs that indicate action or behavior. Generally speaking, there are four conditions as follows.

The first kind of noun is that indicate the place. For example, 我们明天可是主场作战，不能在老乡面前丢人. The structure of this type is “locative noun +verb” and the locative noun implies the place that the things happen. When you study in Chinese language school, teachers may tell you that you can add 在before the locative noun without changing the meaning. For instance, we can say 大家客厅做吧, actually meaning 大家在客厅坐吧.

Another condition is the noun indicating the time such as我们明天出发 with the structure of noun indicating time +verb. In addition, some nouns have figurative meanings can be used with the form of noun +adjective. The figurative noun here has the function of describing and explaining the nature and state of the adjective. For example, 巴掌大has the meaning of 像巴掌一样大.

The last but not the least condition that the foreign learners who study in China should know is the noun indicating means or instruments just like that in the example我们不希望武力解决. In the structure noun +verb, the verb implies the action while the noun is the means or instruments for the action. You may often say 那我们就电话联系吧. 电话联系means 用电话联系.

However, the sentences of the structures mentioned above are not so many. It is also not the typical phenomenon of adverb +head word. Even under the condition of the above structures, they are not so productive. We cannot say 在宿舍睡觉 as 宿舍睡觉 nor 像西湖一样美丽as 西湖美丽. Therefore, the condition that the nouns in Chinese language can be functioned as adverbial is limited.