Kilo Lingo

Mandarin grammar

Every Mandarin grammar topic, in one place

Filter by CEFR level, search by topic, and pick the piece that fits what you are stuck on. The catalogue covers the full set of Mandarin grammar rules from the SVO baseline at A1 to the register-shifting moves at C1.

  1. Beginner (A1-A2)

    Adjectives as Stative Verbs

    Mandarin adjectives are really stative verbs, so you do not use 是 before them. Why 很 sits in front as a default filler, and how to negate with 不/没.

  2. Advanced (C1-C2)

    Advanced grammar (C1-C2)

    Classical-Chinese-derived register, chengyu deployment, formal written grammar, the structural particles that signal literary tone.

  3. Intermediate (B1-B2)

    Approximation and Rounding in Mandarin

    How Mandarin says about, around and roughly: 左右, 大概, 差不多, 几 and 来, each in a fixed slot. The position rule for all five, and the errors learners make.

  4. Intermediate (B1-B2)

    Asking How + Adjective in Mandarin with 多

    Mandarin asks how + adjective with one word: 多 plus a measurable adjective (你多高). Which adjectives take 多, how the answer slots in, 有多, 多久, and 多少 vs 多.

  5. Intermediate (B1-B2)

    Aspect Markers

    Mandarin verbs do not conjugate for tense. Three aspect particles do it: 了 for completion and new states, 在/正在 for ongoing action, 过 for experience.

  6. Intermediate (B1-B2)

    Causatives 使 (shǐ), 令 (lìng) and 让 (ràng)

    The Mandarin causatives compared: why 使 and 令 are written-register markers that take abstract causes, why 让 is the spoken all-rounder that takes people, and how the fixed 令人 pattern builds ready-made