Chinese grammar writing workshop
Write or say a new sentence for each pattern using your own time, place, or object.
Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.
Score one point for each answer you can produce without looking. 20–24: ready for lower-intermediate work; 14–19: revisit the marked units; below 14: repeat Units 1–12 aloud.
Replace tomorrow, school, and Chinese with details from your own day.
Model and reason
Chinese often keeps the action early and places time before the action. Build the short subject–verb–object spine first, then add time and place.
我周末在图书馆学习中文。
Unit 1: Sentence frame: subject–time–place–verb–objectSay where you study, work, or eat and when you do it.
Model and reason
Time usually comes before the verb; a place where an action happens normally comes before that verb too. Do not copy English post-verbal place phrases blindly.
我星期六在朋友家做饭。
Unit 3: Time, place, and movementContrast “I do not go” with “I did not go yesterday”.
Model and reason
Use 不 for habits, intention, and future; use 没(有) for an action that did not happen. 别 is a direct negative request.
我不抽烟。昨天没看电影。
Unit 4: Negation: 不, 没(有), and 别Ask for a person, place, reason, and choice.
Model and reason
Question words stay in the slot where the answer would go. Yes–no questions use 吗, an A-not-A pattern, or an interrogative word; the word order does not flip.
你为什么学习中文？你想不想去？
Unit 5: Questions without inversionExpand one noun, one action, and one result with the right marker.
Model and reason
的 attaches a modifier to a noun, 地 marks the manner before a verb in formal writing, and 得 introduces a complement after a verb. First decide what is being modified.
她写的文章很好。我听得懂。
Unit 6: Modifiers: 的, 地, and 得Count books, people, drinks, and flat objects around you.
Model and reason
A number normally needs a measure word before a noun, and 两 is common before measure words. Learn noun and measure word together as one usable chunk.
两本书，四个人。
Unit 7: Numbers and measure wordsTell two completed events from yesterday and one new situation now.
Model and reason
了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.
我写了作业。天黑了。
Unit 9: Completed events with 了Make one sentence for what is happening, what remains, and what you have experienced.
Model and reason
在/正在 show an action in progress, 着 highlights a continuing state, and 过 marks life experience. Choose the viewpoint before choosing a marker.
我在做饭。灯亮着。我看过这本书。
Unit 10: Ongoing, continuing, and experienced actionsAsk permission, state an ability, and make a plan for tomorrow.
Model and reason
会 can mean learned ability or prediction; 能 concerns practical possibility; 可以 grants permission; 想 and 要 express desire or plan. Their differences matter more than an English “can”.
我会开车。今天不能去。我可以进来吗？
Unit 11: Modal verbs and intentionCompare two places, two people, and two prices.
Model and reason
With 比, do not add 很 before the adjective. Use 没有 for “not as … as”, and use 一点儿 or 更 to express small or greater degree.
今天比昨天冷。我没有他忙。
Unit 12: Comparison and degreeGive three practical instructions with a visible result.
Model and reason
把 brings a definite, affected object before the verb and normally requires a result, location, quantity, or other outcome. It is not a decorative replacement for normal order.
请把书放在桌子上。
Unit 15: 把: handling a known objectJoin four short facts into two cause, contrast, and condition sentences.
Model and reason
Because–therefore, although–but, and if–then pairs make the relationship visible. Do not use both halves mechanically when context already makes one clear.
因为下雨，所以我没去。
Unit 19: Connectors and logical flowWrite four linked sentences about a recent plan or outing.
Model and reason
Draft from a skeleton: topic, time/place, action, result, and reason. Check measure words, negation, and aspect before you add more vocabulary.
我周末想跟同学去公园散步。
Unit 22: Writing a controlled paragraphCorrect four deliberately mixed-up sentences in the workbook.
Model and reason
A strong revision asks targeted questions: 不 or 没? 的 or 得? 比 or 没有? Then read the sentence aloud for its information order.
她说得很快。这个比那个便宜。
Unit 23: Editing with contrasts
我明天在图书馆看这本书。Wǒ míngtiān zài túshūguǎn kàn zhè běn shū. — I will read this book in the library tomorrow.