Sentencer Structures

1. 多大 (duō dà)

Meaning:
Used to ask someone’s age or the size of something. It literally means “how big.”

When to Use:

• To ask someone’s age (for adults or children above 10 years old).
• To ask about the size or magnitude of something.

Examples:

• 你多大？ (Nǐ duō dà?) – How old are you?
• 你弟弟今年多大？ (Nǐ dìdi jīnnián duō dà?) – How old is your younger brother?

2. 有 (yǒu)

Meaning:
Means “to have” or “there is/there are.”

When to Use:

• To indicate possession or existence.

Examples:

• 我有一个弟弟。 (Wǒ yǒu yī gè dìdi .) – I have a younger brother.
• 我家有五口人。 (Wǒ jiā yǒu wǔ kǒu rén.) – There are five people in my family.

3. 几 (jǐ)

Meaning:
Means “how many” or “a few.”

When to Use:

• To ask about a small quantity (usually less than 10).
• To express an unspecified small amount.

Examples:

• 你家有几个人？ (Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ gè rén?) – How many people are in your family?
• 我有几个朋友。 (Wǒ yǒu jǐ gè péng yǒu.) – I have a few friends.

4. Chinese Time Word Order in Sentences

In Chinese, time words are placed before the verb in a sentence to indicate when an action happens. The structure of time expressions follows a broad-to-specific order, starting with the largest unit (year) and moving to the smallest unit (specific time of day).

General Word Order:

[Subject] + [Time Expression] + [Verb] + [Object]

When using multiple time words together:
Year → Month → Day

For example:

• 1776年7月4日：U.S. Independence Day
• 1949年10月1日：Founding of the People’s Republic of China
• 1989年11月9日：Fall of the Berlin Wall
• 2001年9月11日：9/11 Attacks

1）Year (年 – nián)