What you will be able to do
- Use both halves of a connector pair, and know when the first half may be dropped.
- Place the connector before the subject when the two clauses have different subjects, and after it when they share one.
- Build a conditional with 如果…就… and keep 就 in front of the verb.
- Answer a 为什么 question with a 因为 clause of the right length.
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
Four ways to join two clauses
The habit that has to change first
English keeps one connector and drops the other: Although he was busy, he came — never Although he was busy, but he came. Chinese does the opposite: it normally states both halves.
- ，。 Suīrán tā hěn máng, dànshì tā lái le.
That is not a mistake and not redundancy. In a language with no verb inflection, the pair is what tells a listener early on how the second clause will relate to the first.
…… — cause and effect
- ，。 Yīnwèi xià yǔ, suǒyǐ wǒmen méi qù. — Because it rained, we did not go.
- ，。 Tā yīnwèi shēntǐ bù shūfu, suǒyǐ qǐng le yì tiān jià.
opens the reason, opens the result, and neither may swap places. When you answer a question, the reason alone is enough and disappears: ？ 。
may also follow the result as an afterthought: ，。 The pair form is the neutral one; this order adds the reason late, as an explanation.
Where the connector stands
The rule is about subjects, and it is the same for all four pairs.
- Same subject in both clauses — the connector normally comes after the subject in the first clause: ，。
- Different subjects — the connector comes before the subject: ，。
Both orders are heard, and neither is wrong, but following the rule makes long sentences much easier to parse.
…… — concession
- ，。 Suīrán zhège fángjiān bú dà, dànshì hěn gānjìng.
- ，。 Suīrán wǒ xué le sān nián Hànyǔ, dànshì háishi shuō de bù hǎo.
kěshì is the lighter, more conversational partner of ; the two are interchangeable here. may be dropped when the contrast is obvious — ， — but is rarely dropped.
…… — not only, but also
- ，。 Tā búdàn huì shuō Hànyǔ, érqiě shuō de hěn hǎo.
- ，。 Zhège fànguǎn búdàn piányi, érqiě hěn gānjìng.
The second clause very often carries hái or yě as reinforcement: 。 Note that is bú dàn, with the tone change, because is fourth tone. Both halves must point the same way: …… adds, it never contrasts, so a second clause that undercuts the first belongs with instead.
…… — condition
- ，。 Rúguǒ míngtiān xià yǔ, wǒmen jiù bú qù le.
- ，。 Rúguǒ nǐ yǒu shíjiān, jiù gěi wǒ dǎ ge diànhuà.
- ，。 Yàoshi tài guì, wǒ jiù bù mǎi le. — yàoshi is the everyday spoken alternative to .
Three details. dehuà may close the condition — … — and adds nothing but a small pause. The condition needs no future marker: is enough, because has already said when. And stands immediately before the verb of the second clause, after its subject: , never . That is the single most common error in the pattern, and it is an error of position, not of meaning.
How to work through it
Both halves, every timeread
Read the opening section, then say four sentences that would be wrong in English and are right in Chinese: 虽然…但是… four times over, on four different subjects. The doubling should start to feel normal by the fourth.
Move the connector around the subjectsentence
Take 他很忙 and 他没来 and join them twice: once with 因为 before the subject, once after it. Then do the same with two clauses that have different subjects and notice that only one of the two orders now reads cleanly.
The eight connectorsvocabulary
Store them as four pairs, not eight cards. Add 可是 beside 但是 and 要是 beside 如果 as the spoken alternates, and remember that 就 is the only one of the eight that is not a clause opener.
Which pair, and where does it goquiz
Fourteen items. Six choose the pair the meaning demands; four place the connector on the right side of the subject; four fix a sentence in which 就 has been put at the head of its clause.
Four sentences about yourselfspeaking
One sentence per pair: a reason you were late; something difficult you enjoy anyway; a place that is both cheap and good; what you will do tomorrow if it rains. Say each twice, once with the connector before the subject and once after.