HEYGOW
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中文
Intermediate
72
phrases
了 it happened
6
了 is not a past tense - Chinese has none. It marks completion or a change of state, which is why 下雨了 means "it has started raining", about the present. Learn 了 as "something is now different" and most of its uses fall into place.
过 have ever done
6
过 marks experience - that something has happened at least once in your life - and it contrasts sharply with 了. 我去过中国 means I have been to China at some point; 我去了中国 means I went and the trip is the news. Its negative is 没…过.
在〜 in the middle of ~ing
6
在 before a verb marks an action in progress: 我在吃饭, I'm eating. It is the same 在 that means "at" a place, and the logic is the same - you are at the doing of it. 正在 is the emphatic form, right in the middle of it.
会 / 能 / 可以 can
6
会 is learned ability, 能 is being physically able or free to, and 可以 is having permission. 我不会开车 means I never learned; 我不能开车 might mean I've been drinking. 会 also marks likelihood: 明天会下雨.
比 more ~ than
6
比 comparisons never take 很: 我比他高 is correct, 我比他很高 is not. The degree goes after the adjective instead - 他比我大三岁, three years older. The negative is not 不比 but 没有那么…, and 跟…一样 says two things are the same.
因为…所以… because … so …
6
因为…所以… keeps both halves, which English would call redundant - "because it rained, therefore I didn't go". Chinese pairs conjunctions like this routinely, and dropping one is allowed but keeping both is the safe default while you are learning.
如果…就… if … then …
6
如果…就… is the conditional pair, and the 就 in the second half is doing real work: it means "then", and dropping it makes the sentence feel unfinished. 如果可以的话 - if it's possible - is a softener you can attach to almost any request.
虽然…但是… although … still …
6
虽然…但是… is another paired conjunction, and unlike English you keep the "but": "although it's expensive, but it's good". The 但是 half can stand alone - 我想去，但是没时间 - but the 虽然 half normally cannot.
把 do something to it
6
把 moves the object in front of the verb, and it is used when something is done to that object - moved, closed, lost, finished. 把门关上 is not the same as 关门: it says this specific door, and something happened to it.
被 it was done to me
6
被 is the passive, and it carries a residue of misfortune: 我的手机被偷了 and 我被他骗了 are typical. Chinese uses it far less than English uses the passive, so 门关上了 without 被 is more natural for a door that simply closed.
是…的 it was ~ that
6
是…的 puts the spotlight on how, when or where something already known happened. 你是什么时候来的 assumes you came and asks only about the when. It is the difference between reporting an event and picking apart its details.
越来越 / 又…又…
6
越来越 means more and more, and it takes no 很: 越来越冷了 is complete as it stands. 又…又… stacks two qualities that both hold at once - 又便宜又好, both cheap and good - and the two halves should be the same kind of thing.
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