Mandarin Chinese-- Lesson 60--Sentence structure with “bà” in Chinese

Chinese Language Learning Program

Lesson 60 – Sentence structure with “bà” in Chinese

Hello, everyone. Welcome back. This is Baixue’s Chinese Language Learning Program. Today, we will talk about Sentence pattern with “ba” in Chinese.

The sentence structure with "bà"

“bà” is used as a preposition in sentences. And “bà” means “make”, “take” or ”have” etc. Let’s talk about these sentences.

( A ) The subject in the sentence with " bà "

The subject in the sentence with "bà" is usually a noun, pronoun, verb-object noun phrase or phrases and is the one which makes the action of the verb predicate. For example:

1. hǎi shuǐ bà yán shí fǔ shí le. (míng cí)

     海    水   吧   岩  石  腐  蚀 了。(名    词)

   (Sea water eroded the rocks. ( Noun ))

2. tā bà nà běn shū kàn wán le.  (dài cí)

    他 把 那   本    书   看     完 了。(代  词)

    (He finished the book. (Pronoun))

3. zhì rè de yáng guāng bà yán cóng hǎi shuǐ

     炙 热 的    阳       光     把  盐      从   海     水

    lǐ shài chū lái le. (míng cí xìng duǎn yǔ)

   里  晒     出  来了。( 名   词    性    短    语)

(The hot sun made the salt out from sea water.

(Noun phrases))

4. jīng cháng áo yè dǎ wǎng luò yóu xì bà tā de yǎn

     经      常     熬 夜  打    网    络    游  戏 把 他 的  眼

    jīng dōu nòng huài le. (dòng bīn duǎn yǔ)

     睛    都     弄      坏  了。(动宾短语)

(It will ruined your eyes to stay up a lot for

 playing online games. (Verb-object phrase)

(B) The object of the preposition “bà” in the sentence with “bà”

The object of the preposition "bà" is very important. Without this object, there is no "bà". The object of the preposition "bà" is actually the receiver of the verb predicate. The object in the sentence is usually a noun, but sometimes a verb also possible. For example:

1. tā bà zì xíng chē xiū hǎo le. (míng cí)

    他 把 自  行     车   修   好  了。(名   词)

    (He repaired his bike. (A noun))

2. tā bà kǎn jià xué huì le. (dòng cí)

    他 把  砍   价  学    会 了。(动 词)

     (He learned how to bargain. (Verb))

 (C ) the predicate in the sentence with " bà " 

The predicate in the sentence with "bà" must be a transitive verb, and is generally able to dominate or influence the object of the preposition “bà”. For example:

1. wǒ zuó tiān bà shū hái gěi tú shū guǎn le.

     我   昨   天   把   书   还   给 图   书     馆   了。

    (I returned the book to the library yesterday.)

2. wǒ bà diàn yǐng piào nòng diū le.

     我 把   电      影    票      弄    丢  了。

    (I lost the movie tickets.)

Usually a complete sentence is more stringent follow the "Subject + predicate (Verb) + Object" sequence structure. The sentence with “ba” is a feature of the object in advance, so its order is “Subject + 'ba' + object + predicate (Verb)”. It means “take”, “have” or “make”. There are other words equivalent to "ba" --- "jiāng,将" "ná拿" etc.

Example:

qǐng jiáng shū fān dào 53 yè.

  请     将      书  翻    到 53  页。(you can use “ba”)

(Please turn to page 53.)

Ok, I hope I make this lesson clearly enough to be understood. If you have any questions about the sentences with “bà”, please leave me a message and I will response to you ASAP.

Ok, that is all for today.

xiè  xiè!

 谢   谢 ! (Thanks!)

xià  cì  jiàn 

 下  次  见!  (See you next time!)