Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

Focus

57.2

In this example, the first reference and the omitted noun phrase are objects of the verb:

她买了裙子，到家以后马上穿上了(_)。

她買了裙子，到家以後馬上穿上了(_)。

Tā mǎi le qúnzi, dào jiā yǐhòu mǎshàng chuānshàng le (_).

She bought a skirt; when she got home she immediately put it on.

When a noun phrase with identical reference occurs in a different grammatical role from the

first instance, it occurs as a pronoun and is not omitted. In this example, the first reference

is the object of 喜欢/喜歡 xǐhuan ‘to like.’ In the second reference, it is the subject of the

sentence.

我们都喜欢那个孩子。她又可爱又乖。

我們都喜歡那個孩子。她又可愛又乖。

Wǒmen dōu xǐhuan nàge háizi. Tā yòu kě’ài yòu guāi.

We all like that child. She is both cute and well behaved.

57.2 Focus

Mandarin uses the following expressions to focus or highlight a phrase. This section presents

the structure and purpose of the most common focusing constructions in Mandarin.

57.2.1 把 bF

把 bǎ is used to indicate what a subject does to some object, while focusing on the object. 把 bǎ

sentences can always be used to answer the question: ‘What did the subject do to the object?’

把 bǎ sentences are sometimes called the ‘disposal construction.’ The structure of 把 bǎ

sentences is as follows.

subject 把 bǎ object [prepositional phrase +] verb phrase

弟弟把饺子吃完了。

弟弟把餃子吃完了。

Dìdi bǎ jiǎozi chīwán le.

Younger brother ate up the dumplings.

(Younger brother took the dumplings and ate them up.)

他把桌子擦干净了。

他把桌子擦乾淨了。

Tā bǎ zhuōzi cā gānjìng le.

He wiped the table clean.

(He took the table and wiped it clean.)

The object of 把 bǎ must refer to something specific and definite.

The action must have a conclusion or completion. Therefore, 把 bǎ is often used with change-

of-state verbs and verbs with resultative or directional endings.

我把他的地址忘了。(change-of-state verb)

Wǒ bǎ tā de dìzhǐ wàng le.

I forgot his address.

(I took his address and forgot it.)

他把窗户打破了。(verb with resultative ending)

Tā bǎ chuānghu dǎpò le.

He broke the window.

(He took the window and broke it.)