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Introducing Sentences with serial-verb constructions

In this video, Dr Li will explain sentences with serial-verb constructions.
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Hello. Welcome to my Chinese class. We are going to learn about indicating purpose with more than one verb. Dàjiā hǎoWǒ shì Wáng Xiǎobǎo.
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Wǒ lái Zhōngguó xué hànyǔ. Suīrán hànyǔ hěnnán,dànshì tā hěn yǒuyìsī.
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Well, just now Wáng Xiǎobǎo said, Wǒ lái zhōngguó xué hànyǔ. The purpose of his coming to China is to learn Chinese. Let’s have a look at his daily activities. Wáng Xiǎobǎo lái xuéxiào shàngkè.
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Wáng Xiǎobǎo qù shítáng chīfàn.
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Wáng Xiǎobǎo huíjiā zuòzuòyè.
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Any discoveries? Very good. These sentences have two verbs or verbal phrases. The first the verb, or verbal phrase, is come, go, or return, and the second one is indicative of purpose. It’s a basic sentence structure in Chinese that is called biǎo mùdì de liándòngjù. In English, we call it the sentence with serial verbs or verbal phrases indicating purpose. The structure is subject, plus verb one, plus verb two. The purpose of verb one is verb two. Let’s see more examples.
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Wáng Xiǎobǎo qù Běijīng pá Chángchéng.
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pá Chángchéng Climbing the great wall is the purpose. Tāmen qù Shànghǎi kàn Dōngfāngmíngzhū.
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kàn Dōngfāngmíngzhū Seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower is the purpose. Wǒ qù Hángzhōu yóu Xīhú.
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yóu Xīhú, Visiting the west the lake is the purpose. Now, let’s have a practise. Please rearrange the following sentences into the right order. The right order for the first the sentence is Mǎlì qù túshūguǎn kànshū.
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The second one is Ān nī qù shāngchǎng mǎi yīfu.
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The last one is Dàwèi qù yīyuàn kànbìng.
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Have you understood the sentence structure? Let’s listen to a dialogue between Wáng Xiǎobǎo and Xīxī. Try to identify the biǎo mùdì de liándòngjù in the dialogue. Wáng Xiǎobǎo,tīngshuō xiàxīngqī nǐ yào qù Běijīng wánr? Shìya,wǒ xiǎngqù Běijīng pá chángchéng Wǒ yě xiǎng qù Běijīng xiǎng qù Běijīng chī Běijīngkǎoyā Wǒmen kěyǐ yīqǐqù ba. Hǎo yā, wǒmen yīqǐqù. Yes. There are three of examples of biǎo mùdì de liándòngjù.
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Nǐ yào qù Běijīng wánr Wǒ xiǎng qù Běijīng pá Chǎngchéng.
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Wǒ xiǎng qù Běijīng chī Běijīngkǎoyā .
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The structure is subject plus verb one, plus verb two. The purpose of verb one is verb two.

In this video we learn the basic sentence structure “表目的的连动句biǎo mùdì de lián dòng jù” ,this kind of sentence has two verbs or verbal phrases.

The first verb or verbal phrase usually is “come, go or return”, and the second one is indicative of purpose. In English we call it the sentence with serial verbs or verbal phrases indicating purpose. The structure is:

S + V1 +(location)+ V2 (The purpose of V1 is V2. )

For example:

王小宝来中国学汉语。Wáng Xiǎobǎo lái zhōngguó xué hànyǔ.

The purpose of Wang xiaobao coming to China is to learn Chinese.

Some more examples:

王小宝去北京爬长城。 Wáng Xiǎobǎo qù Běijīng pá Chángchéng.

Wang Xiaobao went to Beijing to climb the Great Wall. “Climbing the Great Wall” is the purpose.

他们去上海看东方明珠。 Tāmen qù Shànghǎi kàn Dōngfāngmíngzhū.

They went to Shanghai to see the Oriental Pearl. “Seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower” is the purpose.

我去杭州游西湖。Wǒ qù Hángzhōu yóu Xīhú.

I went to Hangzhou to visit the West Lake. “Visiting the West Lake” is the purpose.

The following is Chinese and English Version of Situational Dialogue in the Video:

西西:王小宝,听说下星期你要去北京玩儿?

王小宝:是呀,我想去北京爬长城。

西西:我也想去北京,想去北京吃北京烤鸭。

王小宝:我们可以一起去!

西西:好啊,我们一起去。

Xīxī:Wang Xiaobao, I heard that you are going to Beijing next week?

Wáng Xiǎobǎo:Yes, I want to go to Beijing to climb the Great Wall.

Xīxī: I also want to go to Beijing. I want to go there to eat Beijing Roast Duck.

Wáng Xiǎobǎo:We can go together.

Xīxī: Cool. Let’s go together.

© Shanghai International Studies University

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