🇨🇳 Chinese (Mandarin)
中文 • Han
Word order: what’s normal (and how to sound natural)
Understand the default word order and a simple strategy to avoid ‘translation‑English’.
The key idea
Mandarin is typically SVO and is topic-prominent; time/place often comes early in a sentence.
- Memorize patterns (whole sentences), not just single words.
- When you change the meaning, keep the grammar skeleton the same.
- If word order is flexible, use ‘neutral’ order first — emphasis comes later.
我在这里。
Wǒ zài zhèlǐ
I am here.
我想要水。
Wǒ xiǎng yào shuǐ
I want water.
我不懂。
Wǒ bù dǒng
I don't understand.
你会说英语吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma
Do you speak English?
厕所在哪里？
Cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ
Where is the bathroom?
这是我的朋友。
Zhè shì wǒ de péngyou
This is my friend.
Tiny practice routine
Pick one sentence and create 5 variations. Example: ‘I want water’ → water/coffee/tea/ticket/help.
- Speak each variation out loud.
- Record yourself and compare rhythm.
Mini‑quiz
Mini-quiz
1/9 • Score: 0
Typical word order for this language is closest to…