Mandarin · Chapter 19 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer
Existential and presentative sentences
新东西 go AFTER the verb in Mandarin: 有, 出现, 发生 introduce something into the scene rather than comment on a known thing (桌上有一本书, 发生了一件事). Why indefinite new information lands at the end, and how this differs from a topic the listener already knows.
The short version
Brand-new things go after the verb, not before
Mandarin sorts nouns by whether the listener already knows them. 我的朋友来了 (wǒ de péng yǒu lái le) fronts a friend we both know; 来了一个人 (lái le yí gè rén) puts the newcomer after the verb because they are fresh information. 一个人来了 (yí gè rén lái le) parses, but it quietly claims you were expecting that particular person.
来了一个人。 lái le yí gè rén.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
Read the full article · 10 min readPractice
Practise this lesson
24-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
New words in this lesson
Mandarin · Free printables
Worksheets for this lesson
Worksheets with answer keys built in. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekLesson 15 of 21 in this chapter