Yes, Chinese does have grammar. That’s why I recently bought a copy of the “Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide”. 400 pages of pure Chinese grammar. Was it worth buying?
Do you really need a complete guide to Chinese grammar?
No matter what language you’re learning, a grammar book is mainly a work of reference to turn to when you’re not sure how something in the language works. If you’re committed to learning Chinese as long-term project, it might be worth the investment. In short, it depends on:
- Your learning goals (spoken fluency vs reading / writing)
- Your budget (they’re costly books)
- The duration of your commitment (a grammar is typically something you’ll want to use for some years, not just for one course.)
What to expect from this book
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide is split into two main parts: Part A dives into the classic grammar nitty-gritty like word order and different word categories (nouns, adjectives, adverbs etc.), while Part B is more about real-life language use – asking questions, apologizing, giving commands, and other practical language skills. The book provides examples in simplified and traditional characters and pinyin. Finally, it might be good to know that this grammar book can be purchased with a workbook containing exercises.
In a nutshell: Part A is the classic grammar stuff with the usual complex terminology that you find in grammar books (negation of static verbs, modal verbs etc.). Part B is more practical, although both sections have plenty of examples and partly discuss the same grammar points.
How ‘practical’ is this ‘Practical Guide’?
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar claims to be a practical guide, but how accurate is that? Yes, the book contains plenty of more or less realistic examples that are not too difficult to understand. But although this book is not the most academic Chinese grammar out there, it’s still observes the language through this theoretical framework that has been developed for Latin and European languages. It doesn’t omit unnecessary technical terms which might confuse and distract many learners.
So what about part B? I personally find the second part of the book (“Situations and Functions”) not very practical, but rather abstract. Take chapter 25: “Fundamental communication strategies”. Or 31: “Describing how actions are performed”. That’s not very to the point, but then again, we’re talking about grammar here, the structure of the language itself.
What this book is not
The book is not categorized by language level. So irrespective of where you are in your language journey, you more or less get thrown ‘everything’ at you at once. This has its pros and cons. For beginners it might be more information than they wish for, while intermediate learners might want to skip the beginner’s content.
It’s also worth noting that this grammar doesn’t cover everything, in particular I’m missing many useful sentence patterns. I guess, although practical for learners, they didn’t fit in the theoretical framework used to structure the contents of this book. This is also true for more ‘advanced’ grammar in general.
Likes
- Comprehensive (tries to cover ‘everything’, from pinyin, pronunciation, writing system to the most important grammatical structures)
- Systematic + clearly structured
- Simplified + traditional characters + pinyin for examples
Dislikes
- Not the most learner-centric approach to grammar
- Lots of technical terms
- Doesn’t include common mistakes and corrections
- Missing valuable sentence patterns and grammar points, particularly for upper intermediate / advanced learners.
Watch out: old and new editions
All textbooks tend to be out of date by the time they are published. That is true for grammar books as well. That’s why, you’ll probably want to buy the newest edition and not be bothered with examples sentences about fax machines and words for internet that I’ve never heard. The third edition of Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar throws in some timely updates. For example: stuff about social media lingo and more.
Solid alternatives to this Chinese grammar book
So what alternatives to this particular grammar book are available? Not too many as you’ll see. First there’s a limited number of books that can help. Some more practical and others more theoretical and academic or somewhere in between:
- Chinese Grammar Wiki BOOK: Elementary, Intermediate or Upper Intermediate Edition (grammar points categorized by language level, tries to reduce grammatical lingo, also includes common mistakes and corrections. In my view, more practical and easier to use for self-studying Chinese grammar.)
- Chinese Grammar Language Study Card: Essential Grammar Points (very basic, but easy to use)
- Essential Mandarin Chinese Grammar (suitable for self-study, includes exercises, common mistakes and corrections)
- A Student Grammar of Chinese (classic grammar with all the technical terms, less practical and more academic)
If you’re looking for free online materials, then this wikipedia-like resource by AllSet Learning is the best. Other pages are nowhere near as comprehensive:
- Chinese Grammar Wiki (From the same publisher as the Chinese Grammar Wiki Book)
And finally, let’s look at apps, which have the advantage of allowing you to practice what you learn:
- The Chinese Grammar app by Nincha Languages (covers most of the grammar points you need for HSK levels 1 to 5. It features 130+ grammar lessons, sorted from HSK1 to HSK5.)
- Boost Chinese: learn Grammar app
- Bootstrap Chinese Grammar app
- Some HSK apps include grammar points
- ChineseSkill, HelloChinese and Duolingo cover Chinese grammar to some degree
Conclusion
So yes, I bought this book so that you don’t have to or at least can make a well informed choice. While this may not be the most academic Chinese grammar ever written, it’s still ends up high on the theoretical scale. Sure, Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar does a good job at giving an overview of many things, but I’m not sure which learner they had in mind. It’s more or less ‘one size fits all’ and that’s not always ideal.
If you’re looking for a traditional Chinese grammar – well-structured and indexed – to be your point of reference while studying Chinese this Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar can be a good match. If you want to focus on Chinese grammar for a particular level that you can use directly in action, there are better options like the Chinese Grammar Wiki Series and apps like the Chinese Grammar app by Nincha.
Affiliate links
Disclosure: These are affiliate links. They help me to support this blog, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
