The verb doesn't come at the end of the sentence in a simple sentence in German. In that instance, it's always second (I could say Ich schau dich an or Dich schaue ich an, but the conjugated verb is in the middle). You only get verbs at the end in compound verb or dependent clause structures.
+lbb2r thank you for the clarification, my German is limited so I just thought of one or two examples when it is at the end. But yeah come to think of it, I can think of examples where it is second like, das ist gut
+lbb2r Please don't get me started on german sentence structure. I came to Chinese to get away from German grammar. I don't want to act like Chinese grammar is a cakewalk..... but it's such a relief to get away from cases and genders...... it made me cry. With Chinese grammar it's all like..... "oh that's such a cool, different way to express this"!
lol, German isn't that difficult, especially Denglish :) On the other hand, it can be such joy to compose half-page long sentences and compound the verbs one after the other :)
This is awesome! Mandarin Chinese is my first language and I still speak and read it natively, but I've never gone to Chinese schools or taken Chinese classes. I've also never learned English from a Chinese speaker's perspective, so I've never had to compare the two. It's so interesting to see how many things I take for granted in both languages without realizing the differences.
Thank you, both, so much! I lived in China for three years and was getting pretty good functioning around the country on my own...but I've been gone now for a decade. Having found you I can practice correctly, maintain what I have and even progress in comfort and confidence. Again, thanks!
The German verb doesn't always come at the end, only when there's a helper verb. In those cases, the helper verb gets conjugated and the main verb gets tacked onto the end as an infinitive.
I did an elective in Mandarin for one semester last year. I had thought I'd become quite rusty, but this channel straight away helped me pick up where I left off. The way you do what you do shows that you enjoy doing it; these lessons therefore are a pleasure to watch. I particularly like the constant subtitling that re-references the traditional characters and makes them easier to remember. For me, the writing system is just about the most frightening thing about Chinese but this definitely helps, and because of other videos you've released, I am choosing to learn traditional characters before simplified characters. All in all, thank-you for making the task of learning such a daunting language considerably less so.
Definitely do more of these. I was always unsure if I could use time words before the subject in sentences, this cleared it up. Chinese grammar (and pronunciation for that matter) isn't terribly complicated, it's just very different from English.
Just returned to the U.S. after more than a year and a half in Taiwan. Would love to receive recommendations for Chinese TV series to watch, especially ones available with traditional Chinese subtitles. Am currently enjoying 步步驚心 (struggling a bit because of simplified Chinese subtitles, but worth the effort so far) and will check out 福氣又安康.
THANK YOU!! So helpful. I have been in China for about 5 months and I know many words but cannot yet structure sentences. This is exactly what I need for my current level of Chinese.
It's a very good channel!! I love it... I Brazilian and I'm studying Chinese in a Italian university and your videos help me a lot!!! Please never stop making videos ... I saw this video was made in 2013 but your last video was made in dicembre of last year!! Thank you so much to dedicate your time making these helpful videos and sorry for my poor English!!! Bye bye!! Go on 💋
I took Chinese 1 last year and they taught me SVO and how to ask questions, but they never told be about other grammar rules. Well, there were a few but this Chanel is very helpful.
Hi, I've been living in Taiwan for the past couple years. I really enjoyed this video, and I found that it is about my current level. I have the basics down and I need to learn more grammar. I found it very helpful that you are also including Taiwanese structure because that is the structure I need to learn. This is the first video I've watched, but I hope there are more just like it because this is exactly what I need. My native Taiwanese wife is also very impressed with these lessons! Thanks a ton! Shih-Shih Ni!
Just to add onto 2 points 1) Regarding the sentence structure " 因为。。，所以。。 " meaning " Because ..., that's why ...", in english we usually put the reason at the back ie " I can't go out to play because I'm busy " but actually for both, you can use both ways except you have to add an additional word 之 or " The reason why " in front. For example, " 我很忙，所以不能出去玩 “ （I'm busy, that's why I can't go out to play) can be expressed as " 我之所以不能出去玩，因为我很忙 " (The reason why I can't go out to play is because I'm busy). 2) Regarding the question particle 吗, indeed the way you ask the question reflects your level of assertion. For example, " 你是不是美国人？ " is 50-50 ie you are not sure but for " 你是美国人吗？ ” means you don't think he/she is American but you still wanna ask OR " 你不是美国人吗？ “ means you think he/she is American but you still wanna ask. Notice it's the opposite.
Yes, I like the longer form intermediate videos about grammar and such. It gives me a chance to multi-task (I'm making saurkraut), while brushing up on my grammar. I often pause, so I can practice reading as well. Well done!
Good video. Gonna continue watching. I hope you guys are still making these, since I guess this video is already a year old. I'm at a stage in Chinese grammar which is getting confusing. For example the word "for" in english, doesn't really have direct translation. 为 给 替, each is used in specific ways, probably some sentence structures I don't know how to create. I hope you guys cover this in future videos.
You guys are hilarious. I really enjoy these longer segments. As a student who has studied Chinese for 4 years, I must say the grammar is still one of the most confusing aspects of learning Chinese. There is so much sentence structures to know, and one must be careful not to directly translate English to Chinese. I definitely would like more of these types of videos.
I really enjoyed this lesson. I, like Ben, listen to Jay and Rainie and the Taiwan dramas to get a better idea on how the language is used by the native speakers. So keep up the good work! 白头 白头
Thank you so much! I am in an isolated Colorado town, learning Chinese. mostly through- tapes and movies! ;), but this is so great! Thank you for the interjection of new life into my sometimes very slow very repetitive program to learn Chinese! ...This makes it even more interesting and helps to check up on things, great overview! putting it all together!! Thank you again very much. Look forward to seeing all the videos!
I find this extremely helpful.I feel I've learned enough vocabulary for the current level of my chinese speaking skills and I want to advance in the grammar. I do want to pass to next level of Chinese and I hope that in two years I'll be at least advanced, because I'll earn a schoolarship for studying in China. Thank you so much! You are the best!
Interseting, the question particle "ma" is similar to japanese question particle "ka" who is put at the end of interrogative sentences. They avoid using question marks, and orally the tone of the sentence goes up at the end.
For future tense, you can use 将/即将 which is actually similar with English where you use the modal 'will'. Referring to your example, you can say '我将要当爸爸了‘ While for past tense, you can use 曾/曾经 to indicate that it used to happen, like '我曾上过某某大学‘。 But generally, I think people would just add '了' at the end of the sentence of after the verb. For example, ' 我睡了十小时’ （I slept for 10 hours)...
Very good, I will recommend my students to your channel, it is one of the best. You have a great presentation style, good sense of humor and you really understand how to help non Chinese speakers to speak. Please keep it up!
Thank you for your videos! I'm on 基礎 level of chinese now, around 2000 words, probably less, I really love when you guys talk about different dialects or about something spoken, colloquial, some slang and stuff. I don't know how many beginners watch your videos, so I can't just say don't do easy stuff, teach something more advanced, that would be selfish :) but I would be really thankful if you can make videos about spoken stuff, dialects and Taiwan again :)
that last bit about learning things through tv would definitely be something you want to make more explicit and known to your learners! instead of just as an after-shot dialogue... XD great wisdom!
I really appreciate these grammar videos and basically all the videos you do helping learn Chinese. I live in Taiwan and have been studying for a year now, however I often find that I understand things much better when learning from a native English speaker. Currently learning 上 as a Verb Compliment (coming into contact) and I think it is supposed to be easy to understand but its throwing me through a loop. Any quick tips on understanding the various ways to use 上? Also 起 is a fun one for all the ways it is used... Thanks again!
Actually, the most typical German word order is SVO, it can change in dependent clauses in complex sentences though. But in an independent clause verb always stands in 2nd position.
I really like this video, i hope that you will create more videos related to grammar because grammar is very helpful for chinese learning in order to improve speaking and writting. Thanks
This video was very helpful, even though I am just starting to learn a little Mandarin. You two perfectly complemented each other in a non-distracting way, so it was easy and fun to watch, too. I have a question, with the sentence, "Because I am very hungry, I will eat something." is there a time word for "will"? That is one thing that I learned in this video, to put the time word at the beginning or after the subject, but it seems Chinese doesn't always use time words. Thanks!
Love you guys, but German verb location at the very end is only when you use forms of the past tense or future. Present tense actually is subject-verb-object as well. I.e. Ich mag euer Video.
The choice type questions with double character verbs can create some interesting situations, such as when you ask someone "Are you OK with doing something?". For that, people (at least in Taiwan) would say "你OK不OK?" or "你 O不OK?" as if "O" is a verb.
This video was perfect! I am at the stage where I need to learn more grammar and vocab, but past the really beginner things like greetings. Please make more long videos like this!! I need to be able to have more conversations!
Very helpful, indeed!! The grammar focus is certainly something I'd like to see more of. Also, perhaps a few colloquialisms (in respect to certain regions, of course) in one of your videos would be nice as well. Keep on building bridges guys!! Thanks!!
I'm a canto speaker and the grammar structures are very similar but also very different ... I never think about the grammar but now I know how to explain it better
I just found these youtube lessons. Great humor in learning and refreshing chinese. I totally enjoyed the Cantonese vs Mandarin and finding out about the history of Cantonese that it is more related sounding and use to the original Tang language. I am glad to understand this as I am learning chinese to acculturate myself to move to my ancestral homeland. Please keep up the good work. Do you have this in a series in CD form??? Or an index or table of content of different series???
Great video. I'm currently learning Chinese and really favor this format over the shorter, theme-oriented videos. Both are useful in their own way: the shorter videos are better for casual viewers who might just want to learn something interesting about Chinese/Taiwanese culture, but the longer videos give you more of an opportunity to actually offer new knowledge and insight to those more interested in picking up the language. The longer length also creates a platform more likened to a lesson. These videos are great supplements for learners. I was familiar with about 90% of what you went over in the video, but it was a good chance to brush up on the tones of what I did know. Meanwhile I could pick up a few new words just through your dialogue. Keep them coming!
You can also switch the order in most cases when saying "因为……所以……" in Chinese. For example, you could say "因为我生病了，所以今天没去上班"; but saying "我今天没去上班，因为我生病了" is totally fine, too.
A German verb only comes at the end of a sentence at the end of a subjunctive clause. Aside from that, it is SVO, unless you ask a question, then the verb comes first. ;) So glad that you guys have grammar videos! Yay! :D
I totally love this video! They're very useful, also for the pronunciation of several phrases. I'm studying for HSK2 and this clip fits perfectly. Great job! Please upload more!
This was extremely helpful, I really enjoyed it, thank you for making it, I took mandarin in high school and trying to pick up on it again, but I didn't quite get on how to use the grammar structure of the Chinese language (Mandarin), its starting to make sense to me, I would love to watch more of these :D
I enjoy your program very much. /Fantastic presentation with the Chinese characters and English. Makes it easier for English-speaking learners like myself to try and take in the characters as well. Keep up with the great presentations! Love you guys
Just to inform you: in German, the verb does not always come at the end, normal main-sentences have the subject-verb-object-structure, too. Subordinate clauses have the conjugated verb at the end. Also, Chinese has a lot of those word X, word Y structures. 要是……就， 无论……也， 除了……以外。 For me, it makes learning easier because one always implies the other. But it's so easy to forget one of them if you don't have it in your native tongue!
I think you are fantastic. It becomes very amusing to learn Chinese with you two ... I'm already learning with Crampe and your videos are making it a pleasure to watch and to learn. Thank you ...😜
In logic, the premise always comes before the conclusion. As someone who studied logic for a while, the 因为……所以 grammar actually makes more sense to me.
你 is informal, something you would use with friends, or acquaintances, or people in general. 您 is formal, something you would use with your boss or someone important/very important.
Yes, do more of this kind of video. I'd also like to know more words that can be used to talk about sports particularly individual/small group sports like swimming and badminton. For instance, how to ask someone if they want to play badminton with you, or go for a swim.
First, it is great when you guys are together! Second, great session and wonderful video which is very instructive. I like the longer format and the grammar is really helpful. Keep it up, you are both very good!!
I really love these videos! I found them only today and subscribed straightaway. I've already watched like 7 or 8 of them, really good! I just think maybe the pace should be a teeny bit slower, it does seem a bit rushed and really fast, especially if someone hasn't learnt this particular grammar before, but other than that I thought it was great: funny, engaging, interesting and informative! 很好，我喜欢！
I've studied Japanese for about a year now and I'm getting into mandarin now. It's interesting to see how both languages are similar and they have similar concepts when it comes to Grammar.
+Learn Chinese Now, I have a few questions. You said that you should say, "因為___，所以___" but why do people sometimes say, "謝謝你，因為___，所以___"？ etc.,etc., because I thought that you could say, 因為 in the middle of a sentence，with 所以 afterwards， and it still is fine. But now it is as though you are saying, only have "因為___，at the start of the sentence，if you want to go on to say, 所以___"。Which is correct? It is in Taiwan I have heard them often give a reason for thanking someone out of the blue, and likewise with apologising. P. S. , Ben, how long did you learn Chinese until being fairly fluent? And are you British? Last few questions, I know very much all the basic Chinese, and, a lot of the intermediate Chinese available is also very easy. But advanced, I find it a massive jump from intermediate/advanced beginner, to advanced. What are your thoughts? Thankyou very much for the videos. They are great!!! I first saw you on off the Great Wall, when Carmen was doing it with Dan, and now really enjoy you videos. Also, I hope you understand my questions... ? I hope I haven't been too confusing. I love Chinese and find it a very lot simpler than other languages. People always say, "Oh, you're learning Chinese? You must be so clever!!!" And I'm like, "actually, in a lot of ways, it's heaps easier than English, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, and especially languages like GERMAN!!!!!! -_- Could you also maybe help me? 你能幫我嗎？I have a few other questions: why when people in Taiwan，do they sometimes talk mandarin making it sound a little like Cantonese? (Mainly older people), and in some songs, too, like if they want it to be an old song or something. They switch the "n" and "l" sounds up and other confusing things，such as saying "是"，as though it is pronounced，"璽" (xi instead of shi)。And last question, why do people put an English word in a song which was written in Chinese, by a Chinese person, who most times doesn't know any English except "hello, how are you" and "very well"??? We in the Western world DON'T add a Chinese word to a song we wrote in English, from England. So why do the Chinese? Can you shed any light on the matter...? P. S. I also like that guy singer from Taiwan. ^_^ Jong Han。
Jong Han In simple terms: the people we know as "Chinese" are actually a mixture of many different groups. Each speak their own dialect (sometimes even language, depending on your definition) where Mandarin and Cantonese just happen to be the most common. The language you say "sounds like Cantonese" is yet another dialect - most likely 台語 aka Taiwanese. This is related to the dialect spoken in the south of the mainland near the Taiwanese island (e.g. Fujian).
This was a great video! I hope to see more like this in the future. I consider myself a beginner and this was all very basic and ready to understand. Thanks!
PLease continue to produce this kind of videos! They are just amazing:)...MAybe you could try when you say the chinese sentence..maybe in a slower pace..just to able to keep up with your prononciation..thank you guys:)
Karen 我很爱你！Hey Ben it's always nice to see these kind of videos where you teach vocabulary and the format over-ten mins format is awesome! Keep the good work guys! Maybe you could also keep doing some acting as the guys from OTGW and pleaaase, let Karen be in all your videos, Ben! I'm totally in love with her.
The verb doesn't come at the end of the sentence in a simple sentence in German. In that instance, it's always second (I could say Ich schau dich an or Dich schaue ich an, but the conjugated verb is in the middle). You only get verbs at the end in compound verb or dependent clause structures.
+lbb2r thank you for the clarification, my German is limited so I just thought of one or two examples when it is at the end. But yeah come to think of it, I can think of examples where it is second like, das ist gut
+lbb2r Would be weird, wouldn't it, if German had that quality? It's a West-Germanic language like English, so V2 :p
+lbb2r Please don't get me started on german sentence structure. I came to Chinese to get away from German grammar. I don't want to act like Chinese grammar is a cakewalk..... but it's such a relief to get away from cases and genders...... it made me cry. With Chinese grammar it's all like..... "oh that's such a cool, different way to express this"!
lol, German isn't that difficult, especially Denglish :)
On the other hand, it can be such joy to compose half-page long sentences and compound the verbs one after the other :)
This is awesome! Mandarin Chinese is my first language and I still speak and read it natively, but I've never gone to Chinese schools or taken Chinese classes. I've also never learned English from a Chinese speaker's perspective, so I've never had to compare the two. It's so interesting to see how many things I take for granted in both languages without realizing the differences.
+Jade Liu same to me but not Chinese , Turkish-English-Arabic and Kurdish
For me it's with Japanese.. I've never been in Japan but can speak and read Japanese on higher advanced level xD
Thank you, both, so much! I lived in China for three years and was getting pretty good functioning around the country on my own...but I've been gone now for a decade. Having found you I can practice correctly, maintain what I have and even progress in comfort and confidence. Again, thanks!
That made me happy, since I consider myself beginner student of mandarin and I understood almost everything... Xie4 xie ni3 men!
+Francisco Vazquez Bravo!
+Francisco Vazquez Me too and I'm definitely a beginner!!!!
i'm ethnic chinese and have been speaking mandarin for over 30 years and i love your channel. i'm still learning stuff i didnt know.
Very usefull video.Thank for sharing. Please inform me the names of the lady-presentation. Does she continue with other learn-chinese-now videos?
The German verb doesn't always come at the end, only when there's a helper verb. In those cases, the helper verb gets conjugated and the main verb gets tacked onto the end as an infinitive.
I've been using an english structure for "because"-sentences my whole life. I'll need to watch that! Thanks a lot guys! This was really helpful.
I did an elective in Mandarin for one semester last year. I had thought I'd become quite rusty, but this channel straight away helped me pick up where I left off. The way you do what you do shows that you enjoy doing it; these lessons therefore are a pleasure to watch. I particularly like the constant subtitling that re-references the traditional characters and makes them easier to remember. For me, the writing system is just about the most frightening thing about Chinese but this definitely helps, and because of other videos you've released, I am choosing to learn traditional characters before simplified characters.
All in all, thank-you for making the task of learning such a daunting language considerably less so.
I really like this video. The music is beautiful. Thank you. 🙂 🙏
Definitely do more of these. I was always unsure if I could use time words before the subject in sentences, this cleared it up. Chinese grammar (and pronunciation for that matter) isn't terribly complicated, it's just very different from English.
Just returned to the U.S. after more than a year and a half in Taiwan. Would love to receive recommendations for Chinese TV series to watch, especially ones available with traditional Chinese subtitles. Am currently enjoying 步步驚心 (struggling a bit because of simplified Chinese subtitles, but worth the effort so far) and will check out 福氣又安康.
Great job. I was always confused by the Chinese grammatical structure. You all really simplified this. Thank you
THANK YOU!! So helpful. I have been in China for about 5 months and I know many words but cannot yet structure sentences. This is exactly what I need for my current level of Chinese.
in german the verb only comes at the end of the sentence if the sentence is a subordinate
It is very good. Please do another one.
im a beginner that doesn't know any of the vocabulary like you said, but i still love this! i am excited for more grammar videos like this!
make more of the grammar guide videos!!! they help me so much! vocabulary is just studying ,grammar is what needs to be taught! great video! xie xie!!
It's a very good channel!! I love it... I Brazilian and I'm studying Chinese in a Italian university and your videos help me a lot!!! Please never stop making videos ... I saw this video was made in 2013 but your last video was made in dicembre of last year!! Thank you so much to dedicate your time making these helpful videos and sorry for my poor English!!! Bye bye!! Go on 💋
I took Chinese 1 last year and they taught me SVO and how to ask questions, but they never told be about other grammar rules. Well, there were a few but this Chanel is very helpful.
This was a great video. I consider myself an advanced beginner and this was at the right level.
Hi, I've been living in Taiwan for the past couple years. I really enjoyed this video, and I found that it is about my current level. I have the basics down and I need to learn more grammar. I found it very helpful that you are also including Taiwanese structure because that is the structure I need to learn. This is the first video I've watched, but I hope there are more just like it because this is exactly what I need. My native Taiwanese wife is also very impressed with these lessons! Thanks a ton! Shih-Shih Ni!
我们大台湾欢迎你
非常感謝
Just to add onto 2 points
1) Regarding the sentence structure " 因为。。，所以。。 " meaning " Because ..., that's why ...", in english we usually put the reason at the back ie " I can't go out to play because I'm busy " but actually for both, you can use both ways except you have to add an additional word 之 or " The reason why " in front. For example, " 我很忙，所以不能出去玩 “ （I'm busy, that's why I can't go out to play) can be expressed as " 我之所以不能出去玩，因为我很忙 " (The reason why I can't go out to play is because I'm busy).
2) Regarding the question particle 吗, indeed the way you ask the question reflects your level of assertion. For example, " 你是不是美国人？ " is 50-50 ie you are not sure but for " 你是美国人吗？ ” means you don't think he/she is American but you still wanna ask OR " 你不是美国人吗？ “ means you think he/she is American but you still wanna ask. Notice it's the opposite.
Hi! Can I ask you how many years did you study Chinese to reach this level of confidence during a speech? Great job, anyway! Keep it up!
謝謝！I have been waiting on a lesson like this for a long time! I loved it!! and the longer format is awesome!
Yes, I like the longer form intermediate videos about grammar and such. It gives me a chance to multi-task (I'm making saurkraut), while brushing up on my grammar. I often pause, so I can practice reading as well. Well done!
Good video. Gonna continue watching. I hope you guys are still making these, since I guess this video is already a year old. I'm at a stage in Chinese grammar which is getting confusing. For example the word "for" in english, doesn't really have direct translation. 为 给 替, each is used in specific ways, probably some sentence structures I don't know how to create. I hope you guys cover this in future videos.
Grammar lessons and longer videos are super helpful. Thank you.
Great work guys. The longer format is prefect, just the right length.
You guys are hilarious.
I really enjoy these longer segments. As a student who has studied Chinese for 4 years, I must say the grammar is still one of the most confusing aspects of learning Chinese. There is so much sentence structures to know, and one must be careful not to directly translate English to Chinese. I definitely would like more of these types of videos.
Hi to both of you, I'm a complete beginner of Chinese language but have just subscribed after watching your most enjoyable video!
This is the most fantastic Chinese Guide I have found until now. 我是墨西哥人， 多谢！！！
不用谢 😄
I love learning from you two, this is reallllly helping me survive in china right now! please do more grammar structure videos!
I really enjoyed this lesson. I, like Ben, listen to Jay and Rainie and the Taiwan dramas to get a better idea on how the language is used by the native speakers. So keep up the good work! 白头 白头
Thank you so much! I am in an isolated Colorado town, learning Chinese. mostly through- tapes and movies! ;), but this is so great! Thank you for the interjection of new life into my sometimes very slow very repetitive program to learn Chinese! ...This makes it even more interesting and helps to check up on things, great overview! putting it all together!! Thank you again very much.
Look forward to seeing all the videos!
I find this extremely helpful.I feel I've learned enough vocabulary for the current level of my chinese speaking skills and I want to advance in the grammar. I do want to pass to next level of Chinese and I hope that in two years I'll be at least advanced, because I'll earn a schoolarship for studying in China. Thank you so much! You are the best!
Do you have a playlist where you can learn things in order as to build in a structured fashion?
Interseting, the question particle "ma" is similar to japanese question particle "ka" who is put at the end of interrogative sentences. They avoid using question marks, and orally the tone of the sentence goes up at the end.
This video is great and I hope you keep up the good work because I am Brazilian and I speak english and trying to lear chinese thanks
These videos are really useful because I can practice both English and Chinese. Thank you.
You too are the best. I have fun watching and learning. Thanks for the video! I love these big videos, they're helpful and help me clear my doubts!
For future tense, you can use 将/即将 which is actually similar with English where you use the modal 'will'. Referring to your example, you can say '我将要当爸爸了‘
While for past tense, you can use 曾/曾经 to indicate that it used to happen, like '我曾上过某某大学‘。 But generally, I think people would just add '了' at the end of the sentence of after the verb. For example, ' 我睡了十小时’ （I slept for 10 hours)...
Very good, I will recommend my students to your channel, it is one of the best. You have a great presentation style, good sense of humor and you really understand how to help non Chinese speakers to speak. Please keep it up!
Thank you for your videos! I'm on 基礎 level of chinese now, around 2000 words, probably less, I really love when you guys talk about different dialects or about something spoken, colloquial, some slang and stuff. I don't know how many beginners watch your videos, so I can't just say don't do easy stuff, teach something more advanced, that would be selfish :) but I would be really thankful if you can make videos about spoken stuff, dialects and Taiwan again :)
You should definitely do more of these
that last bit about learning things through tv would definitely be something you want to make more explicit and known to your learners! instead of just as an after-shot dialogue... XD great wisdom!
I really appreciate these grammar videos and basically all the videos you do helping learn Chinese. I live in Taiwan and have been studying for a year now, however I often find that I understand things much better when learning from a native English speaker.
Currently learning 上 as a Verb Compliment (coming into contact) and I think it is supposed to be easy to understand but its throwing me through a loop. Any quick tips on understanding the various ways to use 上? Also 起 is a fun one for all the ways it is used...
Thanks again!
wow thank you guys ! finally a grammar video =) please do more grammar videos ! we need them ..
"Yue"is more used in sentence structure, we use "geng"（更）before verb and adjective , "geng happy= happier , geng smart= smarter"
Actually, the most typical German word order is SVO, it can change in dependent clauses in complex sentences though. But in an independent clause verb always stands in 2nd position.
I really like this video, i hope that you will create more videos related to grammar because grammar is very helpful for chinese learning in order to improve speaking and writting. Thanks
I liked the class - it was very helpful, and a good level for where I am in the learning process. It's like a nice chat with good friends!
Thanks for using my suggestion :) really really helped!! There grammar guides will be great!
Really like the longer format video, and hope you will make some more grammar videos. Well done.
This video was very helpful, even though I am just starting to learn a little Mandarin. You two perfectly complemented each other in a non-distracting way, so it was easy and fun to watch, too. I have a question, with the sentence, "Because I am very hungry, I will eat something." is there a time word for "will"? That is one thing that I learned in this video, to put the time word at the beginning or after the subject, but it seems Chinese doesn't always use time words. Thanks!
I like it. Lived abroad for a couple years...very helpful.
Love you guys, but German verb location at the very end is only when you use forms of the past tense or future. Present tense actually is subject-verb-object as well. I.e. Ich mag euer Video.
The choice type questions with double character verbs can create some interesting situations, such as when you ask someone "Are you OK with doing something?". For that, people (at least in Taiwan) would say "你OK不OK?" or "你 O不OK?" as if "O" is a verb.
This was an awesome video. There's a lot of useful stuff in here... Now to watch it over and over until I've memorized everything.
This video was perfect! I am at the stage where I need to learn more grammar and vocab, but past the really beginner things like greetings. Please make more long videos like this!! I need to be able to have more conversations!
you explained it so well. I love your videos! You speak so clearly.
This is so helpful! Plus Wang Lee Hom is my favourite pop star too (he and my husband grew up together in the USA so he's the first one I knew)...
Thank you for this lesson, I will play it to my year 9 students (in Sydney)!
Love your videos Ben!
amazing video ! Keep up with the traditional characters, love 'em.
I loved the longer format and the intermediate lesson. I hope to see more of it. :)
I'm just so happy to see traditional chinese characters.
Very helpful, indeed!! The grammar focus is certainly something I'd like to see more of. Also, perhaps a few colloquialisms (in respect to certain regions, of course) in one of your videos would be nice as well. Keep on building bridges guys!! Thanks!!
Loving the long form videos. I have some new things to show off to my 中文老師 ：）
謝謝！
Great video, going to keep watching these. Would like to see a video on how to say when things happened.
I'm a canto speaker and the grammar structures are very similar but also very different ... I never think about the grammar but now I know how to explain it better
I just found these youtube lessons. Great humor in learning and refreshing chinese. I totally enjoyed the Cantonese vs Mandarin and finding out about the history of Cantonese that it is more related sounding and use to the original Tang language. I am glad to understand this as I am learning chinese to acculturate myself to move to my ancestral homeland. Please keep up the good work. Do you have this in a series in CD form??? Or an index or table of content of different series???
Great video. I'm currently learning Chinese and really favor this format over the shorter, theme-oriented videos.
Both are useful in their own way: the shorter videos are better for casual viewers who might just want to learn something interesting about Chinese/Taiwanese culture, but the longer videos give you more of an opportunity to actually offer new knowledge and insight to those more interested in picking up the language. The longer length also creates a platform more likened to a lesson.
These videos are great supplements for learners. I was familiar with about 90% of what you went over in the video, but it was a good chance to brush up on the tones of what I did know. Meanwhile I could pick up a few new words just through your dialogue.
Keep them coming!
You can also switch the order in most cases when saying "因为……所以……" in Chinese. For example, you could say "因为我生病了，所以今天没去上班"; but saying "我今天没去上班，因为我生病了" is totally fine, too.
A German verb only comes at the end of a sentence at the end of a subjunctive clause. Aside from that, it is SVO, unless you ask a question, then the verb comes first. ;) So glad that you guys have grammar videos! Yay! :D
I totally love this video! They're very useful, also for the pronunciation of several phrases.
I'm studying for HSK2 and this clip fits perfectly.
Great job!
Please upload more!
This was extremely helpful, I really enjoyed it, thank you for making it, I took mandarin in high school and trying to pick up on it again, but I didn't quite get on how to use the grammar structure of the Chinese language (Mandarin), its starting to make sense to me, I would love to watch more of these :D
What is the difference between using plain 在 to denote location, and the pattern 在。。。里?
Wonderful series. Please, keep them coming!
I enjoy your program very much. /Fantastic presentation with the Chinese characters and English. Makes it easier for English-speaking learners like myself to try and take in the characters as well. Keep up with the great presentations! Love you guys
Just to inform you: in German, the verb does not always come at the end, normal main-sentences have the subject-verb-object-structure, too. Subordinate clauses have the conjugated verb at the end.
Also, Chinese has a lot of those word X, word Y structures. 要是……就， 无论……也， 除了……以外。 For me, it makes learning easier because one always implies the other. But it's so easy to forget one of them if you don't have it in your native tongue!
Minor mistake, in German the verb only goes at the end with auxiliary verbs and different tenses. The general word order for German is SVO
I think you are fantastic. It becomes very amusing to learn Chinese with you two ... I'm already learning with Crampe and your videos are making it a pleasure to watch and to learn. Thank you ...😜
In logic, the premise always comes before the conclusion.
As someone who studied logic for a while, the 因为……所以 grammar actually makes more sense to me.
I'm in favor of having more videos like this! Especially the structures you showed, such as "因为...所以"
你 is informal, something you would use with friends, or acquaintances, or people in general. 您 is formal, something you would use with your boss or someone important/very important.
this guy is a great teacher. subscribed
Nice work guys. Love the use of example sentences.
Love it, it was very helpful for us. The Grammar Guides are great. Thank you!
Yes, do more of this kind of video. I'd also like to know more words that can be used to talk about sports particularly individual/small group sports like swimming and badminton. For instance, how to ask someone if they want to play badminton with you, or go for a swim.
First, it is great when you guys are together! Second, great session and wonderful video which is very instructive. I like the longer format and the grammar is really helpful. Keep it up, you are both very good!!
Didn't realise I was beyond "beginner level" until I sat through these and felt pretty comfortable
Great vid! Even though I do speak Mandarin I still pick something up from your lessons. Much to the great delight of my Chinese wife...
先 is also oftentimes put at the end. It's not a mistake, it's an afterthought.
I really love these videos! I found them only today and subscribed straightaway. I've already watched like 7 or 8 of them, really good!
I just think maybe the pace should be a teeny bit slower, it does seem a bit rushed and really fast, especially if someone hasn't learnt this particular grammar before, but other than that I thought it was great: funny, engaging, interesting and informative!
很好，我喜欢！
I've studied Japanese for about a year now and I'm getting into mandarin now. It's interesting to see how both languages are similar and they have similar concepts when it comes to Grammar.
not feel difficult about the same Chinese Character, different meanings(In Chinese and Japanese)?
Thank you very much for your grammar explanation. This makes learning a bit easier and a person will be more aware of things to avoid. Thanks again.
+Learn Chinese Now, I have a few questions. You said that you should say, "因為___，所以___" but why do people sometimes say, "謝謝你，因為___，所以___"？ etc.,etc., because I thought that you could say, 因為 in the middle of a sentence，with 所以 afterwards， and it still is fine. But now it is as though you are saying, only have "因為___，at the start of the sentence，if you want to go on to say, 所以___"。Which is correct? It is in Taiwan I have heard them often give a reason for thanking someone out of the blue, and likewise with apologising. P. S. , Ben, how long did you learn Chinese until being fairly fluent? And are you British? Last few questions, I know very much all the basic Chinese, and, a lot of the intermediate Chinese available is also very easy. But advanced, I find it a massive jump from intermediate/advanced beginner, to advanced. What are your thoughts? Thankyou very much for the videos. They are great!!! I first saw you on off the Great Wall, when Carmen was doing it with Dan, and now really enjoy you videos. Also, I hope you understand my questions... ? I hope I haven't been too confusing. I love Chinese and find it a very lot simpler than other languages. People always say, "Oh, you're learning Chinese? You must be so clever!!!" And I'm like, "actually, in a lot of ways, it's heaps easier than English, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, and especially languages like GERMAN!!!!!! -_- Could you also maybe help me? 你能幫我嗎？I have a few other questions: why when people in Taiwan，do they sometimes talk mandarin making it sound a little like Cantonese? (Mainly older people), and in some songs, too, like if they want it to be an old song or something. They switch the "n" and "l" sounds up and other confusing things，such as saying "是"，as though it is pronounced，"璽" (xi instead of shi)。And last question, why do people put an English word in a song which was written in Chinese, by a Chinese person, who most times doesn't know any English except "hello, how are you" and "very well"??? We in the Western world DON'T add a Chinese word to a song we wrote in English, from England. So why do the Chinese? Can you shed any light on the matter...? P. S. I also like that guy singer from Taiwan. ^_^ Jong Han。
Jong Han In simple terms: the people we know as "Chinese" are actually a mixture of many different groups. Each speak their own dialect (sometimes even language, depending on your definition) where Mandarin and Cantonese just happen to be the most common. The language you say "sounds like Cantonese" is yet another dialect - most likely 台語 aka Taiwanese. This is related to the dialect spoken in the south of the mainland near the Taiwanese island (e.g. Fujian).
I think it's more rogorous if it's called '闽南语'.it's a dialect.
This was a great video! I hope to see more like this in the future. I consider myself a beginner and this was all very basic and ready to understand. Thanks!
PLease continue to produce this kind of videos! They are just amazing:)...MAybe you could try when you say the chinese sentence..maybe in a slower pace..just to able to keep up with your prononciation..thank you guys:)
Karen 我很爱你！Hey Ben it's always nice to see these kind of videos where you teach vocabulary and the format over-ten mins format is awesome! Keep the good work guys! Maybe you could also keep doing some acting as the guys from OTGW and pleaaase, let Karen be in all your videos, Ben! I'm totally in love with her.
I loved this video. So helpful!!! There is not many videos like this so I'm excited to see more of these. :)