Chinese Grammar: The Stuff That Actually Matters (And What You Can Skip)

Some people say it's "easy" to learn Chinese because there's no conjugation. Others make it sound like you need a PhD in linguistics just to order dumplings.

Here's what's actually true: Mandarin Chinese grammar is weird compared to English, but it's not complicated in the way French or Russian grammar is complicated. The hard part isn't the grammar—it's the tones and the characters. Basic Chinese grammar? Pretty straightforward once you stop overthinking it.

Let me break down what you actually need to know and what's just noise.

Chinese Grammar Rules: The Basics Are Actually Simple

If you're a beginner, here's good news: Chinese sentence structure follows the same basic word order as English. Chinese uses a subject-verb or subject-verb-object pattern. "I eat rice" in Chinese is literally "wǒ (I) chī (eat) fàn (rice)." No weird inversions, no case endings, no conjugations to memorize.

Chinese grammar is logical in ways that'll make you love it. Here's what Mandarin Chinese grammar doesn't have that'll make your life easier:

So when people say Chinese grammar is similar to English in basic sentence structure, this is what they mean. You're not drilling verb tables for months like you would studying Chinese verbs in other Asian languages.

Essential Grammar Points Every Beginner Needs

But here's the thing—aspects of Chinese grammar exist that English doesn't have. And if you ignore these Chinese grammar points, you'll sound like a caveman.

Measure Words: A Key Chinese Grammar Structure

In English, you can just say "three books" or "two dogs." In Chinese sentence construction, you need a measure word between the number and the noun: "three classifier for bound things books" or "two classifier for animals dogs."

The most common measure word is 个 (gè), which works for a lot of Chinese nouns. If you're just starting out learning Chinese, you can honestly get away with using 个 for most things, even when it's not technically proper grammar. Native speakers will understand you.

But eventually, you'll need to learn the specific measure words:

There are 28 essential grammar points involving measure words you'll encounter in beginner Chinese (HSK 1-3 levels). Don't try to memorize all these Chinese grammar rules at once—you'll pick them up naturally as you see them used in real Chinese sentences.

Particles: Small Words That Change Everything

Chinese grammar uses small particles at the end of the sentence to indicate things like completion, questions, or emphasis. These grammar patterns are everywhere:

These seem simple, but they're fundamental Chinese grammar structures. You can't have a normal sentence without them. The good news? You'll see them so often in real Chinese language content that they become automatic pretty fast.

Chinese Word Order: More Important Than You Think

Remember how I said Mandarin Chinese uses subject-verb-object like English? That's true for basic sentence structure, but Chinese is way pickier about where time words and location words go. Chinese word order is different from English in subtle but important ways.

The basic word order in Chinese follows this grammar rule: Subject → Time → Place → How → Verb

"I go to the store tomorrow" would be structured as "I tomorrow to store go." It feels backwards at first if you're a native English speaker, but this is actually one of those Chinese grammar lessons you pick up intuitively once you see enough real sentences.

The use of time words in Chinese comes at the beginning of the sentence, not the end like in English. This is one of those grammar and sentence structure things that trips people up initially.

More Chinese Grammar Points: Negation and Questions

Using 不 (bù) and 没 (méi) to Negate

Chinese grammar has two main ways to negate a verb or adjective:

This is one of those Chinese grammar rules where the grammar point actually makes more sense than English. You're explicitly marking whether something didn't happen in the past (méi) versus won't happen or isn't true generally (bù).

Question Words in Chinese

Questions in Chinese work differently than in English. For yes/no questions, you add 吗 (ma) at the end. But for question words, Chinese is also pretty logical:

The question word usually goes where the answer would go in the sentence. "You eat what?" = "nǐ chī shénme?" See? Chinese is logical.

The Verb 有 (yǒu): A Special Case

The verb 有 (yǒu) means "to have" and it's one of the most important Chinese verbs you'll learn. But here's where Chinese grammar may surprise you: 有 (yǒu) follows different rules than other verbs.

To negate 有, you don't use 不 (bù)—you use 没 (méi): "I don't have" = "wǒ méi yǒu." This is just one of those grammatical quirks you memorize.

Adjectives, Adverbs, and Other Parts of Speech

Chinese adjectives can function as verbs. In English, you need "to be": "The book is interesting." In Chinese, you can just say "The book interesting." No verb needed for basic descriptions.

When you do need to modify a noun with an adjective, you usually add 的 (de) between them: "red book" = "hóng de shū." But for common adjective-noun pairs, you skip 的: "big dog" = "dà gǒu."

Chinese adverbs typically come before the verb they modify, which is pretty similar to English. "He speaks slowly" = "tā màn shuō."

The pronoun system in Chinese is straightforward: 我 (wǒ) = I, 你 (nǐ) = you, 他/她 (tā) = he/she. Add 们 (men) to make any pronoun plural.

Pinyin and Pronunciation: Not Grammar, But Still Important

While we're talking about learning Mandarin, let's be real: Chinese tones are harder than any grammar point you'll encounter.

Pinyin is the romanization system used to show pronunciation. It uses the same Latin alphabet as English, but the sounds are different. And those tones? They change the entire meaning. Say "māma" with the wrong tones and you might call your mother a horse. Classic beginner mistake.

The tones themselves aren't that hard to produce—first tone is flat and high, second tone rises, third tone dips then rises, fourth tone drops sharply. What's hard is remembering which tone goes with which Chinese character and hearing the difference when native speakers talk at normal speed.

This is where a lot of grammar books fall apart. They'll give you tone drills with isolated syllables, but that's not how you encounter tones in the real world of Chinese.

Chinese Grammar Wiki and Other Resources

If you want to deep-dive into Chinese grammar rules, the Chinese Grammar Wiki (©2011-2025 AllSet Learning) is a comprehensive free resource for Chinese learners. It organizes grammar patterns by level (A1 and A2 grammar points for beginners, up through advanced C1 grammar structures).

The Chinese Grammar Wiki covers everything from basic Chinese grammar to advanced grammatical structures. It's a solid reference when you need to look up a specific grammar point.

But here's my honest take: reference grammar resources are useful, but they're not how you actually learn Chinese grammar.

How to Actually Learn Chinese Grammar (Without Drilling Grammar Lessons)

Here's my take after helping thousands of people learn Chinese: grammar rules are useful for reference, but you don't learn grammar by studying Chinese grammar points in isolation. You learn it by seeing grammatical patterns used correctly over and over until it feels natural.

Think about how you learned English grammar as a kid. Did you study subject-verb agreement rules? No, you just heard people use proper grammar enough times that incorrect sentences sounded wrong.

Same deal with Chinese. You need massive amounts of comprehensible input—reading and listening to real Standard Chinese where you understand most of what's happening.

The problem is finding content at your level. Native Chinese language content is way too hard for beginners, and textbook dialogues are boring as hell. You need something in between that lets you study Chinese grammar in context.

This is exactly why we built Migaku. Instead of forcing you through Chinese grammar lessons or overwhelming you with native content you can't understand, Migaku helps you learn from real Chinese videos and shows—but with the support you actually need.

When you're watching a Chinese show with Migaku, you can:

The tone thing? You'll hear the actual pronunciation from native speakers, in natural speech, which is infinitely more useful than drilling isolated syllables. And because you're learning from content you actually find interesting (not "Zhang goes to the market" dialogues), you'll stick with it.

The Chinese grammar explanations are there when you need them, but you're primarily learning by seeing grammar structures used correctly hundreds of times. Which is how language acquisition actually works.

Plus, everything syncs between the browser extension and mobile app, so you can watch Chinese shows on your laptop, then review your flashcards on your phone during your commute. It's basically the spaced repetition approach, but for actual immersion learning instead of just vocabulary lists.

This is beginner-friendly grammar learning that actually works. You're not memorizing lists of Chinese grammar rules—you're absorbing them naturally through context.

Give it a shot—there's a 10-day free trial, and you can start learning Chinese from real content instead of textbook nonsense. Your future self will thank you when you actually understand how native speakers use grammar and sentence patterns in real conversations.