Grammar & expression

Compare meanings through useful examples.

Measure word finder

Match common nouns to measure words and read practical examples.

了: a completed event or a new situation

Verb + 了 often presents an event as realized. Sentence-final 了 often signals a changed situation. It is not a general past-tense ending; context matters.

了 and 过

过 commonly marks experience. 了 commonly presents a particular realized event. Neither is simply the English past tense.

的、地、得

的 links a modifier to a noun. 地 often links a manner expression to a verb. 得 follows a verb or adjective and introduces a complement. Spoken Mandarin often reduces these to de.

Put the description before the noun

Chinese noun modifiers usually precede the noun. A longer describing phrase is commonly connected with 的.

把: what happens to an object

把 places a known or identifiable object before the verb and typically highlights its handling or resulting state. A bare verb is often insufficient.

被: the affected participant

被 introduces a passive construction. It highlights the participant affected by an event; the person performing the action may be omitted.

看完、看懂、看得到

A result complement states an outcome. A potential complement with 得 or 不 expresses whether an outcome is possible.

会 often describes learned skill or a prediction. 能 often describes ability or circumstances. 可以 often expresses permission or acceptability. Their uses overlap, so a single English gloss is not enough.

Time and place before the action

A common neutral order is subject, time, place, action. Time may also appear before the subject. More than one natural ordering can exist.

知道 and 认识

知道 commonly means knowing information. 认识 commonly refers to knowing or recognizing a person, word, or place through familiarity.

Measure words

A number or demonstrative before a noun often needs a measure word. 个 is common, but books, sheets and some other nouns prefer other measure words.

Idioms and literary wording

A four-character expression may carry a conventional meaning that cannot be recovered by translating each character. Check the whole expression and its register.