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Mandarin Vocabulary
Verbs 3

The verbs section is arranged differently than the other vocabulary lessons on this site. Instead of arranging words in terms of a theme, they will be arranged according to the type of object which they take.

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Verb + VP

The following verbs take a Verb Phrase as their objects. They can be considered helping verbs, or auxiliaries. When they do not take an object, they act as the main verbs of the sentence and their object is understood from previous context.

ke³ yi³	can	可以	**
neng² gou⁴	able to	能够	**
hui⁴	can/will	会	**

Verb + S

The following verbs always take a sentence as their objects. If they appear without an object, a sentence from the previous context must be understood as its object.

zhi¹ dao⁴	know	知道				**
ren⁴ wei²	think/suppose	认为				**

Verb + NP/VP

The following verbs take either a Noun Phrase or a Verb Phrase as their objects. In some cases, the type of object the verb takes can alter its meaning. If one of the following verbs does not have an object in a sentence, there is probably an understood object in the previous context. The first selection is the verb by itself or with a default object, the second and third are the verb and an NP object, and the fourth and fifth selections are the verb and a VP object.

xue²	to study	学	def
zhun³ bei⁴	to prepare	准备	io
lai²	to come	来	**
ai⁴	to love	爱
wan²	to play		**
qu⁴	to go	去	**

Verb + VP/S

The following verbs take either a Verb Phrase or a Sentence as their objects. If they appear without an object, a sentence or action from the previous context must be understood as its object. The first selection is the verb by itself or with a default object, the second and third are the verb and an VP object, and the fourth and fifth selections are the verb and a sentence object.

jue² de	to feel	觉得				**
xiang³	to want	想				**

Notes

IO- This verb can take an Indirect Object
RC- Can take a resultative complement in place of an object
Def- The first choice in the box is the verb's default object

ke³ yi³ functions almost exactly like the English word "can" (with the exception that it does not become a noun meaning a cylindrical aluminum container). It can mean "able", as in "can you get up?" It can mean "willing", as in "can you pass me the salt?" It can mean "have permission", as in "can you come out and play?"

neng² and neng² gou⁴ function almost exactly the same in Mandarin. They can take the same objects.

hui⁴ acts much like the English word "will". It indicates future action or intent. It also has the meaning of "able to" (e.g. ni³ hui⁴ han⁴ yu³ ma? "Can you speak Mandarin?"). Yes, it can be ambiguous.

zhi¹ dao⁴ refers to factual knowledge rather than procedural ability. In most cases it contrasts in meaning with ren⁴ shi.

ren⁴ wei² means to think something, but has the connotation of supposition and is often used when explaining erroneous thinking.

xue² is a special case in that it can take "xi² " as its object and become compound verb that takes the same object that xue² alone would take. So, instead of " xue² su¹ xue² " (learn math) or " xue² da³ qiu² " (learn to play ball), you could say " xue² xi² su¹ xue² " or " xue² xi² da³ qiu² " and it would mean the same thing. But to simply say "to learn" you would addxi² as the default.

zhun³ bei⁴ does not need an object, even understood from context, although it generally does take one. When taking a noun phrase, it will often take VP as a direct object explaining what the preparation is for. These NP/VP combinations taken separately may form a grammatical sentence, but the meaning is changed from the original and so the sentence is not an object of the verb zhun³ bei⁴ .

lai² is also a resultative complement, opposite in meaning as qu⁴

wan² when followed by a VP means that the action being done is not taken seriously, or is done for fun. For example, in the example " wan² da³ gong¹ ", this would mean a person who does not need to work who takes a job because he or she wants to, or a person who takes a job but doesn't really care if he or she loses it.

jue² de can mean either "to feel" or "to think" (like, 'I feel we need some time apart'). Note that jue² de takes only Functive Verbs as the VP. In English these would be adjectives, but in Mandarin they act very much like verbs.

xiang³ means "to want to do something" and does not refer to wanting a noun. It can also mean "to think" something, as in "I think it will rain." It also has a second meaning "to miss" (as in, 'I miss you very much'). When it has this meaning, it takes an NP instead of a VP/S.

Verbs 1 | Verbs 2 | Verbs 3 | Verbs 4

Mandarin Vocabulary Verbs 3