16

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that join phrases belonging to the same grammatical category and indicate a relationship between them. Mandarin conjunctions include the following.

16.1Conjunctions that indicate an ‘additive’ or ‘and’ relationship

16.1.1hé

!"#$%&'!"#$%&

Wáng Míng hé Lm yn shì dàxuéshqng.

Wang Ming and Li An are college students.

16.1.2gqn

!"#$%&'()*+,-

Blijrng gqn Shànghki dsu shì hln zhíde qù kàn de dìfang.

Beijing and Shanghai are both places worth seeing.

gqn also functions as a preposition.

Í14

16.1.3tóng

!"#$%&'!"#$%&

Wn tóng tp de gupnxi hln bù cuò.

The relationship between him and me is not bad (really good).

16.1.4/ yO

!"#$%&'()*+,-.!"#$%&'()*+,-

Wnmen duì Zhsngguó de wénhuà yo lìshm dsu hln ynu xrngqù.

We are really interested in Chinese culture and history.

97

CONJUNCTIONS

16.2

NOTE tóng is used in southern China and is not common in the north. / y0 is used in literary phrases.

16.2Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or ‘or’ relationship

16.2.1/ háishi ‘or’

/ háishi is used in questions that ask the addressee to choose between two alternatives, only one of which can be true or possible. It conveys the sense of ‘either

. . . or’.

Q:	!"#$ %'	A:	!"#$
	!"#$ %		!"#
Nm shì lái luyóu de háishi lái xuéxí de?			Wn shì lái xuéxí de.
Did you come for vacation or to study?			I came to study.
Q:	!"#$ %"&	A:	!"#
	!"#$ %"		!"#
Nm yào hq hóng chá háishi hq hup chá?			Wn yào hq hóng chá.
Do you want to drink black tea			I want to drink black tea.
or jasmine tea?
(In Chinese: red tea or jasmine tea?)

/ háishi is sometimes included in an answer to a / háishi question to mark the preferred alternative. In this usage, / háishi functions as an adverb and not as a conjunction.

Q:	!"#$%&'()*	A: !"#$%&'(
	!"#$%&
	!"#$%&'()*	!"#$%&'
	!"#$%
Nm xikng zhège wèntí, shì xiànzài tkolùn		Wn xikng háishi ymhòu
hko háishi ymhòu zài tkolùn hko?		zài tkolùn hko.
(As for) this question, do you think		I think we should
we should talk about it now or later?		talk about it later.

Í 15, 24.3

16.2.2huòzhL ‘or’

huòzhl ‘or’ is used in statements to present two alternatives, both of which are possible.

Q: !"#$%&'!"#$(	A: !"# $%&
!"#$%&'!"#$
Nm yào jrntipn qù chángchéng	Jrntipn qù huòzhl
háishi míngtipn qù chángchéng?	míngtipn qù dsu xíng.
Do you want to go to the Great Wall	Today and tomorrow
today or tomorrow?	are both okay.

98

Conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or ‘or’ relationship

16.2

Mandarin conjunctions are much more restricted than English conjunctions in the grammatical categories that they join. In Mandarin, the ‘and’ conjunctions only join noun phrases. The ‘or’ conjunctions only join verb phrases.

Most Mandarin connecting words are adverbs. They are presented in the relevant chapters on sentence connection.

Í28, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41

99

THE PASSIVE

17

The passive

17.1The structure of the Mandarin passive

In active sentences, the subject is typically the agent, the noun phrase that initiates the action, and the object of the verb is the noun phrase affected by the action of the verb.

subject + verb +		object
agent		affected object
		!
		!
Tp	tsuznu le wn de chq.

He stole my car.

In Mandarin passive sentences, the affected noun phrase occurs as the subject of the verb, and the agent occurs as the object of a passive marking preposition. As in all sentences with prepositional phrases, the prepositional phrase occurs before the verb:

subject + prepositional phrase + verb

Í14

Mandarin has three passive marking prepositions (passive markers): bèi, jiào, and / ràng, all of which may be translated with the English ‘by.’

subject	+ passive NP	+ verb
affected NP	agent
	[ / / ]	!
	[ / / ]	!
Wn de chq	[bèi/jiào/ràng]	tp tsuznu le.

My car was stolen by him.

In passive structures, the word / gli is sometimes placed before the verb.

	!	[ / / ]			!"
	!	[ / / ]			!"
Nà bln zìdikn		[bèi/jiào/ràng]	Xiko Lm gli jièznu le.

That dictionary was borrowed by Little Li.

The presence of / gli before the verb indicates that the sentence is passive, even when the passive markers bèi, jiào, and / ràng do not occur.

100

The passive and negation

17.2

!"/ !"!"/ !"

Nàge huàirén bèi/gli zhupzhù le.

That bad person was arrested.

The agent of a passive sentence need not be an animate entity. An inanimate entity, a force, or a situation may also function as the agent. For example:

!"[ / / ] !!"[ / / ] !

Tpmen de fángzi [bèi/jiào/ràng] hun shpo le.

Their house was burned down by fire.

!"#$%!"#$%

Tp bèi xuéxiào chèzhí le.

He was fired by the school.

An agent is obligatory when using the passive markers jiào and / ràng. An agent is optional for the marker bèi.

!"#!"#

Tp bèi chèzhí le.

He was fired.

When the passive marker is followed by an object, all of the passive markers are interchangeable. Therefore, all remaining examples in this chapter will be illustrated with only one passive marker.

17.2The passive and negation

Sentences in passive form typically refer to situations that occurred in the past. Therefore, negation in passive sentences is typically ( ) méi (ynu). ( ) méi (ynu) must occur before the passive marking preposition, and never before the verb.

Say this	Not this
!"#$%&'(	G !"#$%&'(
!"#$%&'(	!"#$%&'(
Nm de chq méi ynu bèi jmngchá	Nm de chq bèi jmngchá méi
tusznu.	ynu tusznu.

The policeman didn’t tow your car away.

Í23.1, 33.3

The passive form can also be used when expressing prohibitions and warnings.

!"#$%&!"#$%&

Bié bèi nm de péngyou piàn le.

Don’t let your friend cheat you.

101

THE PASSIVE

17.3

!"#$%&'()*!"#$%&'()*

Wnmen zuò de shì bù yào bèi biéren zhrdao.

We shouldn’t let other people know what we did.

Í47.1.2

17.3Conditions for using the passive in Mandarin

The Mandarin passive is used under the following circumstances:

•To express adversity

To indicate that the event has negative consequences or is in some way ‘bad news’ for the narrator, addressee, or affected noun:

!"##$%&!"##$%&

Wn de qián bèi xikotsu tsuznu le.

My money was stolen by a thief.

•To express surprise or astonishment

!"#$%&'()!"#$%&'()

Wnmen de mìmì bèi zhèngfo fpxiàn le.

Our secret was discovered by the government.

•To emphasize the affected noun phrase rather than the agent

!"#$%&'!"#$%&'

Zhèr de shù dsu bèi rén kkn le.

The trees here were all cut down by people.

•To describe an action when the agent is unknown

!"#$%!"#$%

Zuótipn yínháng bèi qikng le.

The bank was robbed yesterday.

•To avoid mentioning the agent of an action

!"#$!"#$

Wn nu’ér bèi piàn le.

My daughter was cheated.

102

English passives and their Mandarin equivalents

17.6

17.4Differences between the passive markers bèi, jiào, and / ràng

•Frequency: bèi occurs more frequently in written or formal contexts than the other passive markers. In colloquial speech, jiào and / ràng are more commonly used. Dialects differ in the preferred passive marker.

•Adversity: bèi connotes stronger adversity than the other three passive markers.

17.5Additional functions of / ràng, jiào, and / gLi

In addition to their role in passive sentences, / ràng, jiào, and / gli have other functions.

•jiào is also used as a verb meaning ‘to call,’ or ‘to order.’

•/ ràng is also used as a verb meaning ‘to let’ or ‘to allow.’

•/ gli is also used as a verb meaning ‘to give,’ and as a preposition meaning ‘to’ or ‘for/on behalf of.’

When the verb is not followed by an object noun phrase, jiào and / ràng may sometimes be interpreted as either a passive marker or as a verb, and the sentence may be ambiguous.

!"#$%&!"#$%&

Jiàoshòu ràng xuésheng prpíng le.

The professor was criticized by the students. ( / ràng = passive marker: by the students) or

The professor now allows the students to criticize. ( / ràng = allow: allows the students)

In most cases, however, the context will make clear the function of jiào, or / ràng, or / gli, and only one interpretation will make sense. For example, the following sentence only makes sense if / ràng is interpreted as ‘to allow’ or ‘to let’ and not as the passive marker ‘by.’

!"#$%!"#$%

Mpma ràng háizi chr bmnggpn.

Mom let the children eat cookies. ( by the children . . . )

17.6English passives and their Mandarin equivalents

The association of Mandarin passives with the sense of adversity or bad news makes the passive structure more restricted and less common in Mandarin than in English. Compare the following:

103

THE PASSIVE		17.6
Acceptable use of the passive	Inappropriate use of the passive
in English	in Mandarin
The book was written by	G !"#$%&'
my professor.	!"#$%&'
	Zhè bln sht bèi wn jiàoshòu xil le.
The check has already been	G !"#$%&'(
received by the bank.	!"#$%&'(
	Zhrpiào ymjing bèi yínháng shsudào le.
The fruit was sent as a gift	G !"#$%&
by a friend.	!"#$%&
	Shuígun bèi péngyou sònglai le.

Mandarin has several different patterns that are used to emphasize an affected object or to avoid mentioning the agent that do not convey adversity. These include the following:

•Topicalization

!"#$%&'(!"#$%&'(

Zhrpiào, yínháng ymjing shsudào le.

(As for) the check, the bank has already received it.

Í53.1.2.1

• The bk construction

!"#$%&!"#$%&

Péngyou bk shuígun sònglai le.

A friend sent the fruit as a gift.

(A friend took the fruit and sent it as a gift.)

Í53.2.1

• The shì . . . de construction

!"#$%&=!"#$%&=

Zhè bln sht shì wn jiàoshòu xil de.

This book was written by my professor.

(This book, it was my professor who wrote it.)

Í53.2.4

104

Part B

Situations and functions

105

NAMES, KINSHIP TERMS, TITLES, AND TERMS OF ADDRESS

106