How to Use Mandarin General Prepositions

Mandarin prepositions are used to link nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases within a sentence. Mandarin prepositions can refer to movement within time or space, or function as general prepositions such as the English prepositions with, to, or for. General Prepositions The most common general Mandarin prepositions are: Ã¥ °  / Ã¥ ¯ ¹ – duà ¬ – to (someone)è ·Å¸ – gÄ“n – with; fromç µ ¦ / ç »â„¢ – gÄ›i – to; foræ› ¿ – tà ¬ – for (someone)ç” ¨ – yà ²ng – with Using Mandarin Prepositions The object of a Mandarin preposition comes directly after the preposition, and the OBJECT PREPOSITION phrase (the Prepositional Phrase or PP) comes before the verb, as in this example: Zhà ¨gà ¨ xiÇŽo nÇšhà ¡i duà ¬ wÇ’ wÄ“ixià  o.這個å ° Ã¥ ¥ ³Ã¥ ­ ©Ã¥ ° Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¥ ¾ ®Ã§ ¬â€˜Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¨ ¿â„¢Ã¤ ¸ ªÃ¥ ° Ã¥ ¥ ³Ã¥ ­ ©Ã¥ ¯ ¹Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¥ ¾ ®Ã§ ¬â€˜Ã£â‚¬â€šThis little girl smiled at me. (literally: This little girl at me smiled.) Modifiers such as adverbs are placed either before the PP or after the verb’s object: WÇ’ mà ­ngtiÄ n huà ¬ gÄ“n tÄ  shuÃ… .我明å ¤ ©Ã¦Å"Æ'è ·Å¸Ã¤ »â€"è ª ªÃ£â‚¬â€šÃ¦Ë†â€˜Ã¦ËœÅ½Ã¥ ¤ ©Ã¤ ¼Å¡Ã¨ ·Å¸Ã¤ »â€"è ¯ ´Ã£â‚¬â€šI will speak with him tomorrow. (literally: I tomorrow will with him speak.) Mandarin Preposition Examples Here are a few sentences with Mandarin prepositions. Please note that there may be more than one translation of English prepositions. Mandarin prepositions have stricter usage than English. Gn JÄ «ntiÄ n wÇŽnshang wÇ’ yà  o gÄ“n tÄ  qà ¹ chÄ «fà  n.ä »Å Ã¥ ¤ ©Ã¦â„¢Å¡Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¨ ¦ Ã¨ ·Å¸Ã¤ »â€"åŽ »Ã¥ Æ'é £ ¯Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¤ »Å Ã¥ ¤ ©Ã¦â„¢Å¡Ã¤ ¸Å Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¨ ¦ Ã¨ ·Å¸Ã¤ »â€"åŽ »Ã¥ Æ'é ¥ ­Ã£â‚¬â€šThis evening I am going to have dinner with him. (literally: Today’s evening I am going with him to go and eat food.) Gi LÇ  xiÄ nsheng xiÇŽng gÄ›i tÄ  de tà  itai mÇŽi yÄ « tià ¡o jÄ «n xià  nglià  n.æ Å½Ã¥â€¦Ë†Ã§â€Å¸Ã¦Æ' ³Ã§ µ ¦Ã¤ »â€"çš„å ¤ ªÃ¥ ¤ ªÃ¨ ² ·Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã¦ ¢ Ã©â€¡â€˜Ã©  â€¦Ã© Å Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¦ Å½Ã¥â€¦Ë†Ã§â€Å¸Ã¦Æ' ³Ã§ »â„¢Ã¤ »â€"çš„å ¤ ªÃ¥ ¤ ªÃ¤ ¹ °Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã¦  ¡Ã©â€¡â€˜Ã© ¡ ¹Ã§â€š ¼Ã£â‚¬â€šMr. Li is thinking of buying a gold necklace for his wife. (literally: Mr. Li is thinking for his wife to buy a gold necklace.) T TÄ  yÇ jÄ «ng tà ¬ wÇ’ xiÃ… « hÇŽo le.Ã¥ ¥ ¹Ã¥ · ²Ã§ ¶â€œÃ¦â€º ¿Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ ¿ ®Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã¤ ºâ€ Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¥ ¥ ¹Ã¥ · ²Ã§ » Ã¦â€º ¿Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ ¿ ®Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã¤ ºâ€ Ã£â‚¬â€šShe has already fixed it for me. (literally: She already for me fixed it.) Yng TÄ  yà ²ng mà ¹ gà ¹n qiÄ o wÇ’ de tà ³u.ä »â€"ç” ¨Ã¦Å" ¨Ã¦ £ Ã¦â€¢ ²Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã§Å¡â€žÃ©   ­Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ¤ »â€"ç” ¨Ã¦Å" ¨Ã¦ £ Ã¦â€¢ ²Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã§Å¡â€žÃ¥ ¤ ´Ã£â‚¬â€šHe hit me on the head with a stick. (literally: He with a stick hit my head.)