Mandarin · Chapter 5 · Lesson 20 · Grammar primer

Conjunctions

Grammar for HSK 2.

The short version

的时候 (de shí hòu) goes at the end of its clause

English fronts 'when'; Mandarin parks 的时候 (de shí hòu) at the back of the clause it governs, then a comma, then the main clause. So 'when you come, phone me' is you-come-的时候 (de shí hòu), phone me. Same instinct as the paired conjunctions: mark both ends and let position do the work.

你来的时候, 给我打电话。 Nǐ lái de shí hou, gěi wǒ dǎ diàn huà.

When you come, phone me.

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 · 8 min read

Practice

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10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 24 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 20 of 22 in this chapter

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