5
Advanced
The language becomes more written: words such as 之, 其 and 于, set four-character expressions and phrases that carry a stance — emphasis, reservation, regret.
Reports on business, politics and science become understandable in essence, and a longer argument can be given a clear structure in the right tone.
Sentence patterns and linking clauses3
Adverbs that carry the grammar
1Linking clauses
25Concession in writing: jǐnguǎn and nǎpàJǐnguǎn admits a fact more firmly than suīrán; nǎpà supposes the worst or smallest case and says it changes nothing.5Rather than: yǔqí … bùrú and nìngkě … yě bùYǔqí … bùrú weighs two options and picks the second; nìngkě … yě bù accepts a cost rather than do something.
Tone, politeness and set expressions18
Sentence-final particles
1Politeness and social language
1Expressions (level 4)
1Expressions (level 5)
105Even and let alone: shènzhì and hékuàngShènzhì climbs to the surprising case; hékuàng points to the case that follows all the more.5Not necessarily: wèibì, bújiànde and bù yídìngThree ways to doubt that something must be so — without saying that it is not.5As for: zhìyúZhìyú opens a clause about the next point; bú zhìyú says it will not come to that.5On the contrary: fǎn'ér and dàoFǎn'ér turns the expected result upside down; dào does the same, more softly, in speech.5Surprise and confirmation: jìngrán and guǒránJìngrán says nobody expected it; guǒrán says somebody did, and was right.5In case and once: wànyī and yídànWànyī prepares for what you hope will not happen; yídàn names the point after which things change.5So as not to: miǎnde, yǐmiǎn and shěngdeThree words that open a second clause and name the trouble the first clause is meant to avoid.5Surely not? The rhetorical nándàoNándào asks a question that already holds its answer — the opposite of what it says.5In short, in other words: zǒngzhī and huànjùhuàshuōZǒngzhī sums up what came before; huànjùhuàshuō says it again in other words.5Four-character expressions: chéngyǔ in a sentenceHow the four-syllable idioms are built, where they go in a sentence, and why they never take hěn.
Written Chinese
55Zhī and qí in modern writingZhī is the written de and lives on in fixed forms like zhīyī and zhījiān; qí means its, their or of them.5The written prepositions yú and yǐ, and the link érYú marks place, time, comparison and target in writing; yǐ means with, by or so that; ér links two parts and often contrasts them.5Written adverbs: jiāng, yǐ, wèi, jūn, jiēFive single characters that written Chinese uses for will, already, not yet and all.5Suǒ before a verb, and the passive wéi … suǒSuǒ before a verb points at the thing that is done; wéi … suǒ … is the passive of written prose.5Spoken and written Chinese side by sideMany spoken words have a written partner — yóuyú for yīnwèi, rán'ér for dànshì, yīncǐ for suǒyǐ, ruò for rúguǒ — and a text keeps to one of the two.