Chinese Grammar: Lesson: Basic sentence order

Simple sentences in Chinese are very straight-forward. Let's see what order you should follow to make a sentence in Mandarin Chinese.

Rule

In Chinese, the basic sentence order is:

Subject + Verb + Object.

Just like in English.

Examples

Here are a few examples using two of the most common verbs in Chinese: 是 (to be) and 有 (to have).

我 是 中国人。
I am Chinese.

你 有钱。
You have money.

In Chinese, there are no tenses, no plural, no conjugations… pretty cool, isn’t it!