Level 1 Lesson 17.1 – We Didn’t Go Travel in China Last Year

Grammar 1: Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series, 连动句 · HSK 1

In Chinese, there is a very important type of sentence structure, it is called 连动句 Liándòngjù.

It's when we have a Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series. In fact 连动句 is literally "sequence - verb - sentence".

A typical 连动句 goes like this:

Subject + Verb¹ (Object¹) + Verb² (Object²)

For example:

• wǒ qù péngyou jiā kàn diànyǐng
  我去朋友家看电影。
  I go to (my) friend's house to watch (a) movie
• tā bù huíjiā xǐ yīfu
  他不回家洗衣服。
  he (is) not (going/coming) back home to wash clothes

Sometimes the sentence only has one Object, or no Object at all. For example:

One Object

• wǒmen míngtiān qù mǎi dōngxi
  我们明天去买东西。
  we tomorrow go buy stuff
• nǐ huí fángjiān chī 你回房间吃。
  you (go/come) back to (the) room to eat

No Object

• wǒ qù kàn 我去看。I (will) go look
• nǐ qù xǐ 你去洗。you go wash

Grammar 2: Compare Verb 去 vs. 回 in Chinese · HSK 1

In Chinese, both qù 去 and 回 huí are verbs. We can use them to say "to go and be back" in Chinese. Here are how we compare the verbs 去 vs. 回 in Chinese:

去 means to go or to go to.

回 means to go back (to) or to come back (to) - we do not know if it's to go back or to come back. 回 just indicates to travel back.

We can use 去 and 回 in this structure:

Subject + 去/回 + Place

For example:

去

• tā hěn xiǎng qù Zhōngguó Běijīng
  她很想去中国北京。
  she very much wants to go to China Beijing
• wǒ xiàgeyuè qù péngyou jiā
  我下个月去朋友家。
  I next month go to (my) friend's house

回

• wǒmen xiàge xīngqī'èr huí xuéxiào
  我们下个星期二回学校。
  we next Tuesday (go/come) back to school
• Wáng Xiǎojiě qùnián méi huí Fǎguó
  王小姐去年没回法国。
  Miss Wang last year didn't (go/come) back to France

Since 去 and 回 are both verbs in Chinese, they can also be used in 连动句, Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series. This would be the structure:

去/回 + Object + Verb Predicate (+ Object)

For example:

去

• tāmen zuótiān bùxiǎng qù shāngdiàn mǎi dōngxi
  她们昨天不想去商店买东西。
  they yesterday didn't want to go to the store to buy stuff
• wǒ míngnián bú qù Fǎguó lǚyóu
  我明年不去法国旅游。
  I next year (will) not go to France to travel

回

• tā xiǎng huíjiā shuìjiào
  他想回家睡觉。
  he wants to (go/come) back home to sleep
• wǒ míngnián xiǎng huí Yīngguó shàngxué
  我明年想回英国上学。
  I next year want to (go/come) back to Britain to go to school