HSK1 Grammar

Locative words such as 上, 下, 里, and 前边 follow a noun to form a location phrase.

会 expresses a learned ability; 能 expresses ability or permission/conditions that allow an action.

想 expresses a wish or intention; 要 can express a stronger wish, need, or plan.

Interrogative pronouns such as 谁, 什么, 哪儿, 几, 多少, and 怎么 stay in the position where the answer would appear.

Personal pronouns refer to the speaker, listener, or another person; 们 forms plural personal pronouns.

这 points to something near, 那 points to something farther away; they also appear in 这里/那里 and 这些/那些.

Numerals express quantity, order, or time; before a measure word, 两 is often used instead of 二.

A measure word is normally placed between a numeral and a noun, such as 个, 本, 杯, 口, 家, or 块.

Degree adverbs such as 很, 非常, 太, 真, and 最 come before adjectives or some psychological verbs such as 喜欢.

都 covers all mentioned items or people; 一起 and 一块儿 mean doing an action together.

Time adverbs such as 马上, 先, 有时, 在, 正, and 正在 indicate timing, order, or an ongoing action.

常 and 常常 indicate frequent actions; 再 indicates repetition or continuation in the future.

也 means “also”; 还 can mean “still”, “also”, or “in addition” depending on context.

不 negates habits, present/future actions, or adjectives; 没/没有 negates 有 and completed actions; 别 gives a negative command.

从 introduces a starting point in time or space.

在 before a place tells where an action happens.

跟 and 和 can introduce the person who does an action together with the subject or the person being interacted with.

比 is placed between two compared items, followed by an adjective that states the result of the comparison.

和 and 跟 connect items of the same type; 还是 connects choices in a question.

的 links an attributive modifier to a noun; 地 links an adverbial modifier to a verb.

了 after a verb marks that an action has been completed in a specific context.

吧 softens a suggestion, 吗 forms yes-no questions, 呢 can ask back or mark an ongoing state, and sentence-final 了 marks a changed situation.

A number-measure phrase consists of a numeral plus a measure word and can modify a noun or stand as a quantity phrase.

The subject is the person, object, or situation being talked about; it often comes before the predicate.

The predicate states the action, state, or feature of the subject.

The object is the person, thing, or content affected by or related to the verb.

An attributive modifier comes before a noun and gives information about that noun.

An adverbial modifier comes before the predicate and describes manner, time, place, negation, or degree.

A verbal-predicate sentence uses a verb or verb phrase as the predicate to describe what the subject does.

An adjectival-predicate sentence uses an adjective or adjective phrase as the predicate to describe the subject.

A non-subject-predicate sentence lacks an explicit subject-predicate pair and is common in short responses, calls, notices, and natural phenomena.

A declarative sentence states information, describes something, or reports an event.

An interrogative sentence asks for information, confirmation, a choice, or a yes-no judgment.

An imperative sentence gives a request, invitation, instruction, reminder, or prohibition.

An exclamatory sentence expresses strong feeling, often with 太...了 or 真....

是 links the subject with a noun phrase for identification or introduction; 是...的 can emphasize a feature.

有 expresses possession or existence; 没有 is its negative form.

A comparative sentence uses 比 to say A is more than B in some quality, or 没有 to say A is not as much as B.

A coordinate compound sentence joins two clauses with equal status or two actions happening in parallel.

Sentence-final 了 often marks a change of state compared with before.

Completed-action aspect uses 了 after the verb to mark a completed action.

在/正/正在 before a verb, or 呢 at the end of a sentence, can mark an action in progress.

Spoken money amounts commonly use 块, 毛, and 分; 毛 can be omitted in forms such as 八块五.

Chinese time expressions usually go from larger units to smaller units: year, month, day, then hour and minute.

Add 吗 to the end of a declarative sentence to form a yes-no question.

Use 什么, 谁, 哪儿, 怎么, 几, 多少, and similar words to ask for specific information without changing normal word order.

还是 connects two choices in a question and asks the listener to choose one.

An affirmative-negative question places the affirmative and negative forms together to ask whether something is the case.