14 Prepositions and prepositional phrases
Prepositions occur before a noun phrase and indicate some relationship between the noun phrase and
the main verb of the sentence. The preposition plus its noun phrase forms a prepositional phrase.
14.1 The grammar of the prepositional phrase in the Mandarin sentence
Here are the two rules to follow when using prepositional phrases.
Rule 1. In Mandarin, the prepositional phrase occurs immediately before the verb phrase.
Compare this with English, in which the prepositional phrase occurs immediately after the verb
phrase.
他们 [给弟弟] [买了冰淇淋]。
他們 [給弟弟] [買了冰淇淋]。
Tāmen [gěi dìdi] [mǎi le bīngqilín].
They [for younger brother] [buy ice cream]
They bought ice cream for younger brother.
她 [跟同学] [聊天]。
她 [跟同學] [聊天]。
Tā [gēn tóngxué] [liáo tiān].
She [with classmates] [chat]
She chats with classmates.
There is one exception to this rule. If the prepositional phrase indicates where the subject is
located as a result of the action, the prepositional phrase follows the verb.
他跳到床上。 Tā tiào dào chuáng shàng. He jumped onto the bed.
Rule 2. Nothing occurs between the preposition and its noun phrase object.
- The suffixes 了 le, 着/著 zhe, and 过/過 guo follow verbs, but not prepositions:
Say this Not this
他在中国住过一年。 *他在过中国住一年。
他在中國住過一年。 他在過中國住一年。
Tā zài Zhōngguó zhùguo yīnián. Tā zàiguo Zhōngguó zhù yīnián.
He lived in China for a year.
我昨天跟他说话了。 *我昨天跟了他说话。
我昨天跟他說話了。 我昨天跟了他說話。
Wǒ zuótiān gēn tā shuō huà le. Wǒ zuótiān gēn le tā shuō huà.
I spoke with him yesterday.
