What you will be able to do
- Separate 学习, 复习, 预习 and 练习, and use each with the right object.
- Comment on performance with 得 after the verb, repeating the verb when an object is present.
- Turn 认真 and 努力 into adverbs with 地 in front of the verb.
- Count repetitions with 遍 and 次, and say a mark has gone up with 提高.
本文中的中文词语都可以激活，查看词典释义。
The words a student lives on
One component, four verbs
xí means to practise, and it builds four verbs that a beginner tends to collapse into one.
- xuéxí — to study, in general. It can stand with no object at all: 。 Tā zài xuéxí. With an object it is interchangeable with plain : or .
- fùxí — to revise what you have already been taught: 。 Wǒ jīntiān wǎnshang yào fùxí.
- yùxí — to prepare a lesson before class. The habit has a name in Chinese and no single word in English.
- liànxí — to drill, to practise a skill. Also a noun: zuò liànxí to do exercises.
on its own is the more flexible of the two big verbs — it takes concrete skills that sits awkwardly with: xué kāichē learn to drive, xué yóuyǒng.
What a student does
- zuò zuòyè — to do homework; jiāo zuòyè — to hand it in.
- cānjiā kǎoshì — to sit an exam. is itself a verb plus object, so a count opens it: 。 Wǒ kǎo le sān cì shì.
- chéngjì — marks, results: 。 Tā de chéngjì hěn hǎo. Chinese says the marks are or , not high.
- chá cídiǎn — to look a word up in a dictionary. chá is the verb for consulting a reference.
- jiàoshì — classroom. Keep it apart from and from xuéxiào, the school itself.
Judging the doing: after the verb
Verb + + comment says how the action went. The comment is an ordinary adjective phrase and keeps its .
- 。 Tā xué de hěn nǔlì. — He studies hard.
- 。 Nǐ xiě de hěn hǎo.
- 。 Tā pǎo de bú kuài. — The negative attaches to the comment, never to the verb.
When the verb has an object, cannot reach past it. Repeat the verb, or move the object to the front:
- 。 Tā shuō Hànyǔ shuō de hěn hǎo.
- 。 Tā Hànyǔ shuō de hěn hǎo.
- Not .
Describing the doing: before the verb
Adjective + + verb turns a description into an adverb, and it stands in front.
- rènzhēn de tīng — listen attentively
- nǔlì de xuéxí — study hard
- mànmàn de shuō — speak slowly
The two are not interchangeable: is your plan for the action, is the verdict on it afterwards.
Counting attempts
- biàn counts a run from beginning to end: 。 Wǒ kàn le sān biàn. — I read it through three times. 。 Qǐng zài shuō yí biàn.
- cì counts occasions, complete or not: 。 Wǒ qù guo liǎng cì.
Getting better
tígāo is to raise, to improve, and it takes what is improving as its object: tígāo shuǐpíng, tígāo chéngjì. To say it about yourself, let the thing be the subject: 。 Wǒ de Hànyǔ shuǐpíng tígāo le. And the two verbs of memory sit at either end of the work: jìzhù to fix in the memory and wàng to forget — 。 Wǒ wàng le.
How to work through it
Four verbs, four momentsread
Read the first section, then place each of 预习, 学习, 复习 and 练习 on a timeline around one class: before it, during it, after it, and every day regardless. The four are not synonyms.
Ten words from a classroomvocabulary
Learn 作业 with 做 and 交, 考试 with 参加, 成绩 with 好. A noun stored without the verb that goes with it will not come out when you need it.
Repeat the verb to make room for 得sentence
Say each idea both ways — verb repeated and object fronted: he speaks Chinese well; she writes characters beautifully; they did the homework quickly. Then negate all three, putting 不 after 得.
的, 得, 地quiz
Twelve items. Eight choose which *de* the neighbours demand; four attach a result to a verb — 看完, 记住, 听懂, 找到 — and negate it with 没 rather than 不.
Report on your own weekspeaking
Six sentences about your own studying: what you revised, how many times you read something through, one thing you have forgotten, one thing that has improved, how hard you worked, and how well you did it. Use 遍 at least once and 得 at least twice.