4 · Sentence patterns
Appearing, disappearing and existing
existential sentences
Place first, then the verb, then the new arrival: the order Chinese uses for something that is somewhere, turns up or goes away.
To say that something is somewhere, Chinese can open with the place and put the thing after the verb: 墙上挂着一张画, literally “on the wall hangs a picture”. English needs “there is … hanging”; Chinese does it with order alone. The thing after the verb is new to the listener and indefinite, so it usually carries a number and a measure word.
There are three kinds. Existing, with a verb of position and 着: 门口站着两个人, “two people are standing at the door”. Appearing, with a verb of movement and a complement or 了: 前面走过来一个人, “somebody is coming towards us”. And disappearing: 我家丢了一只猫, “a cat has gone missing from our house”.
The reason is a deep habit of Chinese: what is already known comes first, and what is new comes last. Compare 客人来了, “the guests have arrived” — the ones we were expecting — with 来了一位客人, “a guest has come”, somebody nobody had mentioned. The words are the same; the order says whether the guest is news.
The place at the head of the sentence normally stands bare, without 在: it is the subject of the sentence, not a prepositional phrase. English speakers, who say “on the wall”, tend to add 在 in front; the standard form leaves it out.
The form
| existing, with zhe | 墙上挂着一张画。 |
| somebody standing | 门口站着两个人。 |
| appearing | 前面走过来一个人。 |
| arriving | 我们班来了一个新同学。 |
| disappearing | 我家丢了一只猫。 |
| weather | 外面下雨了。 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The place comes first, without 在, and the new thing comes after the verb.
桌子上放着一本词典。There is a dictionary lying on the table.
What follows the verb is new and indefinite, usually with a number and a measure word.
楼下停着一辆红色的车。There is a red car parked downstairs.
Appearing and disappearing take a verb with a complement or 了.
对面开过来一辆公交车。A bus is coming towards us from the other side.
Something already known stands before the verb; something new stands after it.
客人来了。The guests (the ones we were expecting) have arrived.
A closer look
Known before new
A Chinese subject is normally something the listener can already identify. A brand-new person or thing therefore sounds odd in subject position: 一个人走过来了 is possible but marked, while 走过来一个人 is the ordinary way to bring somebody on stage. The existential sentence is the grammar's door for newcomers.
That is why stories so often begin this way: 山上住着一位老人, “on the mountain there lived an old man”. The place is set first, then the character enters — exactly the order of a camera moving from the scene to the person in it.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the thing is already known — your keys, that book
use the ordinary order with 在: thing, 在, place.
你的钥匙在桌子上。Your keys are on the table.
The slot after the verb is for something new; a known thing takes the subject position instead.
How to spot it
- 上…着
- 里…着
- 来了一个
- 过来一个
Example sentences
床上躺着一只猫。There is a cat lying on the bed.
门口站着一位老人。An elderly person is standing at the door.
前面走过来一个警察。A police officer is walking towards us.
我们公司上个月来了三个新同事。Three new colleagues joined our company last month.
昨天我们楼里搬走了一家人。A family moved out of our building yesterday.
天上飞来了一群鸟。A flock of birds came flying across the sky.
8 more example sentences
教室里坐着很多学生。There are a lot of students sitting in the classroom.
信封上写着一个地址。There is an address written on the envelope.
路边开着很多花。Lots of flowers are in bloom by the roadside.
我们家来了一位客人。A guest has come to our house.
动物园里跑了一只猴子。A monkey has escaped from the zoo.
远处传来了一阵音乐声。The sound of music drifted over from the distance.
山下住着几户人家。A few families live at the foot of the mountain.
外面刮起了大风。A strong wind has started blowing outside.
Worth knowing (1)
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Weather follows the same pattern
Rain, snow and wind are new arrivals too, so they come after the verb: 下雨了, literally “falls rain”, 刮风了, “blows wind”. There is no “it” as in English; the place, if there is one, opens the sentence.
下雪了，外面一片白。It is snowing — everything outside is white.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English says “on the wall”, and the preposition tempts learners to begin with 在. In this pattern the place itself is the subject of the sentence and stands bare: 墙上, not 在墙上.
Place, verb, then the new arrival with a number — the known goes first and the new goes last.
Your turn
8 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.