Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

AdverbS

15.2

Question Respond with this Not this

你已经吃了吗？ 对。 *已经。

你已經吃了嗎？ 對。 已經。

Nǐ yǐjing chī le ma? Duì. Yǐjing.

Have you already eaten? Correct.

or

我已经吃了。

我已經吃了。

Wǒ yǐjing chī le.

I have already eaten.

Mandarin has a number of structures that are adverbial in function in that they describe the

way an action is performed. See

C 31

Adjectival verbs, stative verbs, and modal verbs may be modified by intensifiers such as 很

hěn ‘very,’ 太 tài ‘too,’ and 真 zhēn ‘really.’

C10.3, 11.2, 12.6.3

Adverbs add many different kinds of meaning to a sentence. This chapter presents adverbs that

have logical functions. Other adverbs are presented throughout this book in chapters that focus

on the meanings associated with the specific adverbs.

C27.1, 34, 35, 36.2, 37, 38, 40, 41.2

15.2 Adverbs with logical function: 也 yG, 都 dDu, 还/還 hái, 就 jiù,

只 zhH, and 才 cái

15.2.1 也 yG ‘also, in addition’

也 yě is used to introduce a second verb phrase. It never follows negation.

也 yě can be used to introduce a second verb phrase that adds additional information about the subject.

小王学中文。他也学日文。

小王學中文。他也學日文。

Xiǎo Wáng xué Zhōngwén. Tā yě xué Rìwén.

Little Wang studies Chinese. He also studies Japanese.

When the subjects are identical in reference, the second subject may be omitted:

小王学中文，也学日文。

小王學中文，也學日文。

Xiǎo Wáng xué Zhōngwén, yě xué Rìwén.

Little Wang studies Chinese and also studies Japanese.

也 yě can be used to indicate that two different subjects share similar properties or perform the

same action.

小王很高。小李也很高。

Xiǎo Wáng hěn gāo. Xiǎo Lǐ yě hěn gāo.

Little Wang is very tall. Little Li also is very tall.

小王上大学。小李也上大学。

小王上大學。小李也上大學。

Xiǎo Wáng shàng dàxué. Xiǎo Lǐ yě shàng dàxué.

Little Wang attends college. Little Li also attends college.

C40.1