New to Chinese grammar? Start here.

Basic Chinese sentences are Subject + Verb + Object — the same order as English. The catch: everything you add later (time, place, 也) goes BEFORE the verb.

的 (de) is Chinese's all-purpose possessive — like English “'s”, but broader. Owner + 的 + Thing: 我的书 (my book), 老师的车 (the teacher's car).

For close relationships (family, partners, close friends) and institutions (school, work), Chinese drops the possessive 的: it's 我妈, not 我的妈. Keeping 的 sounds oddly distant.

有 (yǒu) is the verb “to have”: Subject + 有 + Object (我有钱 = “I have money”). Its one quirk — it's negated with 没, not 不: 没有.

和 (hé) means “and” — but only for joining nouns (你和我, 茶和咖啡). It can't link verbs, adjectives or whole sentences the way English “and” does.

Add 吗 (ma) to the end of any statement to make a yes/no question — no word-order change. A confirmation word + 吗 (对吗？好吗？) turns it into a tag question: “…, right? / OK?”.

Tag a V-不-V confirmation onto a statement — 对不对？(right?), 是不是？(isn't it?), 好不好？(OK?) — to check a fact or soften a suggestion. It's the lively twin of the 吗 tag.

Add 吧 (ba) to the end of a sentence to turn a blunt command into a gentle suggestion — 我们走吧 (“let's go”), 坐吧 (“have a seat”). The soft, friendly particle.

还是 (háishì) is “or” — but only when you're offering a choice in a question (茶还是咖啡?). For “or” in a statement, Chinese uses a different word, 或者.

呢 (ne) makes quick “what about…?” questions — add it to a topic (你呢？= “and you?”). It also asks “where is…?” when the thing is already on everyone's mind (钱呢？).

Chinese question words — 什么 (what), 谁 (who), 哪儿 (where), 什么时候 (when), 为什么 (why), 怎么 (how), 多少 (how many) — stay exactly where the answer would go. No fronting, no rearranging.

怎么 (zěnme) means “how” — and it goes right before the verb (你怎么去？), never at the front like English. Often the topic comes first: 芒果怎么吃？

不 (bù) is the all-purpose negator: put it before almost any verb or adjective to say you don't, won't, or aren't. (The one verb it can't touch is 有.)

有 (yǒu) is the one verb that can't take 不 — negate it with 没 instead. 没有 (méiyǒu) means "don't have" (and often shortens to just 没).

都 (dōu) means “all” — and “both”, and (with a negative) “neither”. The catch: it goes AFTER the subject, never up front like English “all”.

也 (yě) means “also” or “too” — and it always sits before the verb, never at the end like English. The same 也 covers “either” in negatives.

要 (yào) before a verb means “want to” — and often “going to”, with a sense that you've decided to act. Its gentler cousin 想 means “would like to”.

想 (xiǎng) before a verb means “would like to” — the soft, tentative cousin of 要. Use 想要 (xiǎngyào) to want a thing; and on its own, 想 also means “to miss”.

Chinese splits English “can” into three: 会 (a learned skill), 能 (ability or circumstances), and 可以 (permission). Picking the right one is the whole game.

Chinese has two words for “two”. 二 (èr) is the digit — counting, phone numbers, ordinals (第二, 二月). 两 (liǎng) means “two of something” and pairs with a measure word (两个, 两点).

Chinese numbers are wonderfully logical: build any number from the digits 一-九 plus the place words 十 (10), 百 (100), 千 (1000). The only tricky bits are 零 (middle zeros) and 二 vs 两.

To count nouns in Chinese you need a measure word between the number and the noun: Number + 个 + Noun (三个人 = “three people”). 个 (gè) is the all-purpose one that works for almost anything.

Chinese dates run from big to small — year, then month, then day: 2025年4月1号. Months are just a number + 月 (no names to memorize), and the day takes 号 in speech or 日 in writing.

Use 把 to move the object in front of the verb and say what you did to it — and what happened as a result.