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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 26

桌上放着一本书 A book is sitting on the table

Zhuō shàng fàng zhe yì běn shū

Wang Yue tidies her room; Dr Lin drops by. Vocab: 桌子 / 椅子 / 房间 / 门 / 墙 (table, chair, room, door, wall). Introduces the existential sentence (二56): Locative + V + 着 + Noun, e.g. 桌上放着一本书 ("a book sits on the table").

你的房间真好 — Your room is really nice

  1. 高天 wángyuèhǎo. defángjiānzhēnhǎo. Hi Wang Yue. Your room is really nice.
  2. 王月 xièxiègāoshēng. gāngcónggōngyuántiàohuílái. qǐngzuò. Thanks, Dr Gao. I just got back from dancing in the park. Please sit.
  3. 高天 zhuōshàngfàngzheshénme? shìběnshūma? What's on the table? A book?
  4. 王月 shì. zhuōshàngfàngzheběnshū. zàikàn. Yes. There's a book on the table. I've been reading it.
  5. 高天 shénmeshū? What book?
  6. 王月 běnzhōngdeshū. jièshàode. A TCM book. The one you recommended.

墙上写着什么? — What's written on the wall?

  1. 高天 qiángshàngxiězhe, zhēnpiàoliang. shìxiědema? There are characters on the wall — beautiful. Did you write them?
  2. 王月 shì. shìpéngyǒusòngde. shàngmiànxiězhe"xīnān". No. A friend gave it to me. It says 'peace of mind'.
  3. 高天 "xīnān"hǎo. zishìxīndema? 'Peace of mind' — beautiful characters. Is the chair new too?
  4. 王月 suànxīn. cóngjiādàiláide. pángbiānfàngzhemadezi. Not really. Brought it from home. Next to it sits mom's chair.
  5. 高天 ménkǒuzhànzhezhīxiǎomāo? Is that a kitten standing at the door?
  6. 王月 shìde! chángchángzhànzhe, děngkāimén. Yes! She stands there every day, waiting for me to open the door.

我送你到门口 — I'll see you to the door

  1. 高天 shíjiānzǎole. yīnggāizǒule. It's getting late. I should go.
  2. 王月 sòng. mendàoménkǒu. I'll see you out. Let's walk to the door together.
  3. 高天 defángjiānhěnānjìng. huan. Your room is so peaceful. I like it.
  4. 王月 xièxiè. mànzǒu. Thanks. Take care.
  5. 高天 zhùshēn. duōxiūxi. Take care of yourself. Rest well.
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
zhuō n. table (short for 桌子)
桌子 zhuōzi n. table (full form)
fàng v. place; put — chapter existential anchor
zài prep. at; in (preposition reinforcement, Level 1 revisit)
旁边 pángbiān n. side; next to (Bk1 ch4 revisit)
椅子 yǐzi n. chair
房间 fángjiān n. room
mén n. door (Level 1 revisit; strong placement here)
zhàn v. stand (verb sense; Bk1 ch8 revisit)
qiáng n. wall
心安 xīn ān phrase "peace of mind" (calligraphy inscription on the chair)
汉字พินอินชนิดคำความหมาย
gāng
qiáng wall
xīn heart / mind / cognition / decision (semantic radical) 心安 xīn ān — "peace of mind" (calligraphy inscription on the chair)关心 guānxīn — care about
māo

zhuō table เขียน

10 strokes top-bottom radical 木

Compound: 卓 (zhuō, phonetic) over 木 (wood). Original sense: "a wooden surface = table." Modern: table. The 木 (wood) radical clusters 桌 with other furniture / wood characters: 椅 (this chapter), 床 (ch3), 木.

fàng place; put — chapter existential anchor เขียน

8 strokes left-right radical 攵

Phono-semantic compound: 方 (fāng, phonetic) + 攵 (action / strike radical, on right). Original sense: "place / let go." Modern: "put / set / release / place." Anchors the V+着 existential pattern (this chapter).

chair เขียน

12 strokes left-right radical 木

Phono-semantic compound: 木 (wood) + 奇 (qí, phonetic). Modern: "chair." With 桌 (table, this chapter) and 床 (bed, ch3), 椅 fills out the basic furniture set. Stays in the 木 cluster.

fáng room; house เขียน

8 strokes enclosure radical 户

Phono-semantic compound: 户 (door / household radical) + 方 (fāng, phonetic). Original sense: "the space behind a door = room / house." Modern: 房间 (room), 房子 (house). The 户 radical heads house / door characters.

zǐ / zi son; noun-suffix (Level 1 revisit) จดจำ

3 strokes standalone

zhàn stand (verb, Bk1 ch8 revisit) จดจำ

10 strokes left-right radical 立

qiáng wall จดจำ

14 strokes left-right radical 土

biān side; edge (Bk1 ch4 revisit; in 旁边) จดจำ

5 strokes enclosure radical 辶

páng side (Bk1 ch4 revisit; in 旁边) จดจำ

10 strokes top-bottom

存现句 — 桌上放着一本书 Existential sentences — describing what's where

存现句用来描述某地有什么东西 / 谁在某地. 句式: 处所词 + V + 着 + 名词. 例: 桌上放着一本书 (literally "table-on placed a book"). 椅子上坐着一个人 ("on the chair sits a person"). 注意词序: 处所先, 名词最后. 这是中文句式的关键特点——和英语相反. 与"有"字句相关但不同: 桌上有一本书 (general "there is") vs 桌上放着一本书 (specific "is placed there"). V+着 句式的好处: 可以指定"怎么放"——挂着 (hanging), 写着 (written), 站着 (standing). 注意: 名词不能是已知的具体的东西. *桌上放着我的书 通常不自然——已知的东西用别的句式 (我的书在桌上).

Existential sentences describe WHAT is at a location: Locative + V + 着 + Noun. Example: 桌上放着一本书 (literally 'table-on placed a book' = 'a book sits on the table'). 椅子上坐着一个人 ('on the chair sits a person'). KEY WORD ORDER: location first, noun last. The OPPOSITE of English. Related to 有 sentences (桌上有一本书 = 'there's a book on the table'), but different in nuance: 有 is generic, V+着 specifies HOW the thing is positioned (placed, hanging, written, standing). Common verbs: 放 (placed), 挂 (hanging), 写 (written), 站 (standing), 坐 (seated). RESTRICTION: the noun should be NEW / indefinite. *桌上放着我的书 ('my book' is too specific) sounds wrong; use 我的书在桌上 instead (a different sentence type, 'the book is on the table').

  • 桌上放着一本书. Zhuō shàng fàng zhe yì běn shū. A book is sitting on the table.
  • 椅子上坐着一个人. Yǐzi shàng zuò zhe yí ge rén. A person is sitting on the chair.
  • 门旁边站着王月. Mén pángbiān zhàn zhe Wáng Yuè. Wang Yue is standing next to the door.
  • 墙上写着字. Qiáng shàng xiě zhe zì. There are characters written on the wall.

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