Chinese grammar guides

Mandarin runs on a small set of load-bearing patterns. Each guide below explains one of them the way you'd want it explained — what it does, where it goes, where it refuses to go — with examples glossed in pinyin and English.

• 了了 (le): completion and change The most used — and most misused — particle in Chinese: what 了 actually marks, and why it is not past tense.
• 把把 (bǎ): doing something to the object The construction that moves the object before the verb — when Chinese wants to say what happened to a thing.
• 比比 (bǐ): comparisons A 比 B + adjective — how Chinese compares, how to say by how much, and the mistake with 很 everyone makes once.
• 的·得·地的, 得, 地: the three de Three characters, one pronunciation, three jobs — possession, degree, and manner — told apart by what they attach to.
• 个·本·张Measure words: why it's never just 三书 Every Chinese noun counts through a measure word. The system behind 个, 本, 张 — and which few you actually need.
• 是…的是…的: spotlighting how it happened The pattern for talking about a past event everyone knows happened — to stress when, where, or how.
• 过过 (guo): have you ever… The experience marker — done at least once, ever — and how it differs from 了's completion.
• 着着 (zhe): states that hold The particle for ongoing states and background actions — why the door 开着 while you 在开门.
• 吗·呢·吧吗, 呢, 吧: the sentence-final particles Three tiny words that turn statements into questions, bounce questions back, and soften commands into suggestions.
• 不·没不 and 没: two ways to say not Chinese splits negation in two — 不 for won't/doesn't/isn't, 没 for didn't/hasn't — and the split is about time and fact.