Grammaire of lesson 9

The date

Unlike French, dates in Chinese are structured from the most general to the most specific:

The year is constructed by enumerating the digits before the word for “year” 年 nián:
For example, 2028 is 二零二八年 èr líng èr bā nián — literally “two, zero, two, eight year.” Do not say “two thousand twenty-eight.”

Months are constructed by placing the numeral (1–12) before the word for “month” 月 yuè:
January: 一月 yī yuè
February: 二月 èr yuè
March: 三月 sān yuè
...
October: 十月 shí yuè
November: 十一月 shí yī yuè
December: 十二月 shí èr yuè

Only the year is constructed by enumerating digits.

Days of the month are constructed by placing the numeral before the word for “day” 日 rì.

The first of the month is 一日 yī rì, the second 二日 èr rì, and the 30th 三十日 sānshí rì.

Thus, December 21, 2028 is written as: 二零二八年十二月二十一日.

In speech, 号 hào is often used instead of 日 rì to denote the day of the month: 一月五号 yī yuè wǔ hào — January 5.

To ask for the date:
今天几月几日？ Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ rì ? What’s today’s date?
你几号回来？ Nǐ jǐ hào huílái ? When are you coming back?

Time adverbials

In Section 6, we saw that adverbials of place (where an action takes place) come before the main verb:
她在中国学中文。 She studies Chinese in China.

This is a general rule in Mandarin Chinese: adverbials precede the verb. The time adverbial follows the same rule:
我今天打电话。 I’m calling today.
我明天去看他。 I’ll go see him tomorrow.

When both a time adverbial and a place adverbial appear in the same sentence, which comes first? Time is considered more general than space and comes first:
我明天在你家打电话。 I’ll call you at your place tomorrow.

The construction 什么时候: when?

The question “when?” is 什么时候 shénme shíhou. Like most interrogatives in Mandarin, it occupies the same position as the answer:
你什么时候回家？ Nǐ shénme shíhou huíjiā ? When are you going home?
我明天上午回家。 Wǒ míngtiān shàngwǔ huíjiā. I’m going home tomorrow morning.

在 and the place adverbial

When we learned the verb “to be” 是 shì, we noted that its use is more restricted than in French.

For example, to say “to be somewhere,” 是 shì is not used; instead, 在 zài is:
他在北京。 Tā zài Běijīng. He is in Beijing.

The interrogative word is 哪儿 nǎr: where?
她在哪儿？ Tā zài nǎr ? Where is she?

To say “doing something at a place,” the place adverbial must be introduced by 在 zài and placed before the verb:
我在中国学中文。 Wǒ zài Zhōngguó xué zhōngwén. I study Chinese in China.

Duration

Unlike punctual time, duration is not an adverbial (which precedes the verb) but a verb complement placed after the verb:
我学汉语两年。 I studied Chinese for two years.

Compare:
我学汉语两年。 I studied Chinese for two years.
and
我学汉语两年了。 I have been studying Chinese for two years.

The final 了 le combined with the duration gives the sense of “since,” placing the situation in the present.

Two common expressions:
你学汉语几年了？ How many years have you been studying Chinese?
我学汉语三年了。 I’ve been studying Chinese for three years.

In dialogue:
你回去几天？ Nǐ huíqù jǐ tiān ? How many days are you going back for?
我回去半个月。 Wǒ huíqù bàn gè yuè. I’m going back for half a month.

A slightly harder sentence:

你在北京大学读书读几年？ Nǐ zài Běij­ng dàxué dúshū dú jǐ nián ? How many years have you been studying at Peking University?

The numeral 半

半 bàn means “half.”

It is placed before the measure word to indicate “half of” the noun that follows:
半个月 bàn gè yuè half a month

It is placed after the unit/measure word to indicate “and a half”:
一个半月 yī gè bàn yuè one and a half months
八点半 bā diǎn bàn 8:30

会 as a future marker

We’ve seen that 会 huì means “know how to.” It can also express probable future, the idea that “something is likely to happen.” This is a predictable or naturally expected future.

In dialogue:
你今年会回法国吗？ Nǐ jīnnián huì huí Fǎguó ma ? Will you go back to France this year?
我今年会回去。 Wǒ jīnnián huì huíqù. I’ll go back this year.
他会来吗？ Tā huì lái ma ? Will he come?

Adding 的 at the end of a sentence with 会 as a future marker emphasizes certainty:
他会来的。 Tā huì lái de. He’ll come (for sure).

Simple directional verbs 来 and 去

来 lái “come” indicates movement toward the speaker, while 去 qù “go” indicates movement away:
他去中国。 He is going to China. (Speakers aren’t in China.)
他来法国。 He is coming to France. (Speakers are in France.)

来 and 去 can be added to action verbs to indicate the direction of the action relative to the speakers, functioning as “directionals”:
我回去。 I’m going back. (Moving away from the speaker)
你回来了！ You’re back! (Speaker is here)

In dialogue:
我今年会回去。 I’ll go back this year. (Bái Xuě is leaving Beijing.)
你几号回来？ When are you coming back? (Gāo Xiǎoyǔ is in Beijing, waiting.)

To specify the place in a simple directional construction, place it between the action verb and the directional:

Examples:
我回中国去。 I’m going back to China.
他回我家来。 He’s coming back to my place.

Note: “go home” is simply 回家 huíjiā:
我下午六点回家。 I’m going home at 6:00 PM.