Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

negating actions

13.3

你点了几个菜？

你點了幾個菜？

Nǐ diǎn le jǐge cài?

How many dishes did you order?

我借了我同屋的车。

我借了我同屋的車。

Wǒ jiè le wǒ tóngwū de chē.

I borrowed my roommate’s car.

C17, 37.1

13.2 Indicating that an action has been experienced in the past

To indicate that the subject had the experience of performing some action in the past, follow

the action verb with the verb suffix 过/過 guo. The verb suffix 过/過 guo is used when

talking about actions that the subject does not perform on a regular basis or for actions that

happened in the remote past. It is not used when talking about actions that have occurred

recently.

我看过那个电影。

我看過那個電影。

Wǒ kànguo nàge diànyǐng.

I’ve seen that movie before.

我来过这里。

我來過這裏。

Wǒ láiguo zhèlǐ.

I’ve been here before.

C17, 37.6

13.3 Negating actions

13.3.1 Indicating that an action does not occur or will not occur

To indicate that an action does not occur or will not occur, negate the action verb with

不 bù.

我不吃肉。

Wǒ bù chī ròu.

I don’t eat meat.

台北从来不下雪。

臺北從來不下雪。

Táiběi cónglái bù xià xuě.

It does not snow in Taipei.

明天是星期六。我们不上课。

明天是星期六。我們不上課。

Míngtiān shì xīngqīliù. Wǒmen bù shàng kè.

Tomorrow is Saturday. We don’t attend class.