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The word order of existential sentences in Pontianak Teochew mirrors that of Mandarin and other Chinese varieties. Similarly, sentences with verbal predicates in Pontianak Teochew also generally follow the subject-verb-object word order (SVO) pattern, consistent with other Chinese languages.
Only sentences with a noun as the complement (e.g., "This is my sister") use the copular verb "to be": 是; shì. This is used frequently; for example, instead of having a verb meaning "to be Chinese", the usual expression is "to be a Chinese person" (我 是 中国人; 我 是 中國人; wǒ shì Zhōngguórén; lit.
tā He 打 dǎ hit 人。 rén person 他 打 人。 tā dǎ rén He hit person He hits someone. Chinese can also be considered a topic-prominent language: there is a strong preference for sentences that begin with the topic, usually "given" or "old" information; and end with the comment, or "new" information. Certain modifications of the basic subject–verb–object order are permissible and ...
Looking at existential sentences, in all languages, they are understood to belong to a grammatically distinct construction, which is utilized to express existential positions. Cleft-sentences in English contain existential sentences that have a dummy there as a subject, be as a main verb, and an NP in the post-verbal complement position.
In English, existential clauses usually use the dummy subject construction (also known as expletive) with there (infinitive: there be), as in "There are boys in the yard", but there is sometimes omitted when the sentence begins with another adverbial (usually designating a place), as in "In my room (there) is a large box."
The legacy of Chinese philosopher Confucius, among others (for example, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Mencius), has provided a rich domain of Chinese philosophical heritage in East Asia. [11] Firstly, the goal of education, and one's most noble goal in life, is to properly develop oneself in order to become a "profound person" ( 君子 , jūnzǐ ).
Correctly translating this sentence will require using a universal quantifier for the indefinite noun phrase "a donkey", rather than the expected existential quantifier. The naive first attempt at translation given below is not a well-formed sentence, since the variable y {\displaystyle y} is left free in the predicate BEAT ( x , y ...
All varieties form existential sentences with a verb cognate with yǒu 有, which can also be used as a transitive verb indicating possession. [170] Most varieties use a locative verb cognate to zài 在, but Min, Wu and Yue varieties use several different forms. [171]