Serial Verbs Construction in Mandarin Chinese (compound:svc) #

See the universal explanation of UD compound:svc

In Mandarin Chinese, a Serial Verb Construction (SVC) is a sequence of verbs or verb phrases that share the same subject without any explicit conjunction or marker of subordination between them. This grammatical structure is used to express various complex actions, states, and events. SVCs are very common in Mandarin and provide a concise way to express complex ideas.

The series of verbs in SVCs can express a sequence of events, cause and effect relationships, a means to achieve a goal, or complement one another in various ways.

Here are the main types of SVCs in Mandarin Chinese with examples:

1) Sequential Actions #

The actions are performed in the sequence in which they appear.

Example: 我起床刷牙。 (Wǒ qǐchuáng shuāyá.)

English Translation: I got up and brushed my teeth.

In this sentence, the action of getting up (起床) precedes the action of brushing teeth (刷牙).

2) Complementary Actions #

The second verb indicates the purpose of the first one or provides additional information about it.

Example: 我们去公园玩。 (Wǒmen qù gōngyuán wán.)

English Translation: We go to the park to play.

In this example, going (去) is the action and playing (玩) is the purpose of the action.

IS NOT SVC : #

When the two (or more) verbs are not coding a single event, a concurrence or a causally-related event, it should not be seen as a SVC construction.

Example: 我洗脸刷牙。

Remarks #

When a clause act as a “manner” modifier clause, we don’t know YET if it should be a compound:svc (from first to second verb) or a mod@manner (from second to first). At the moment (25 sept 2023), we annotate them as compound:svc, but we know it might be wrong.

Example: - 我打电话告诉他。 - 我坐飞机去北京。

/!\ Directionnal complement #

See page about directional complement, as they are a special type of serial verbs construction