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

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Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series | 去 vs. 回 in Chinese

In this video lesson we'll learn a very important sentence structure: 连动句 Liándòngjù - a Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series. And we'll also learn and compare the verbs 去 vs. 回 in Chinese.

  • Chinese Sentence with Verb Phrases in Series, 连动句 Liándòngjù
  • Compare Verbs 去 vs. 回 in Chinese: to go and be back in Chinese

VOCABULARY


GRAMMAR


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:

 means to go or to go to.

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 + / + Place

For example:

  • 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

  • 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:

/ + Object + Verb Predicate (+ Object)

For example:

  • 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

  • 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

 

3 Comments
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冯哲 Premium Student December 13, 2019 at 11:09 pm

I found this particular lesson difficult, but good

Docp123 Premium Student July 22, 2020 at 6:07 am

Me too. So I’m not alone. I enjoyed it though and I’ve watched it a fair few times.

mindv0rtex Premium Student November 19, 2018 at 12:01 am

I think the better translation of 回 in this lesson should be “to return back”.

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