Prepositions Like "with/and" + Also Go Before the Verb

This is one of the things that people start to experience some brain-funkyness with.  In Mandarin, when we want to do something WITH someone, "someone" will be put at the front of the sentence right next to us.  This means that a sentence like, "I eat with you." becomes "I with you eat." in Mando.

We will probably need some time to get this down, but after some practice it will become second nature. And you can simply place shéi in the structure to make it a question.

Subject + mental verb + gēn/hé + person + (together - yīqǐ) + action

A: Nǐ xiǎng gēn/hé shéi yīqǐ qù zhōngguó？ ——> You want with who together go to China? (You want to go to China with who?) 你想跟/和谁一起去中国？ B: Wǒ xiǎng gēn/hé wǒ de jiějie qù zhōngguó. ——> I want with my older sister go to China. (I want to go to China with my older sister) 我想跟/和我的姐姐去中国。

Note that xiǎng is to want to, and it is another mental verb just like xǐhuān (to like to...). Therefore, xiǎng will be placed right after the subject. Nǐ míngtiān xiǎng zuò shénme？Wǒ xiǎng gēn péngyǒu kàndiànyǐng. In this sentence, wǒ is the subject, so xiǎng is placed after wǒ - I want to watch movie with my friend. Wǒ gēn péngyǒu míngtiān xiǎng kàndiànyǐng. In this sentence, wǒ gēn péngyǒu is the subject, so xiǎng is placed after wǒ gēn péngyǒu。Both my friend and I want to go to watch movie tomorrow.

A: Shéi gēn bàba yīqǐ hējiǔ？ ——> Who with Dad together drink alcohol? (Who is drinking alcohol with dad?) 谁跟爸爸一起喝酒？ B: Bàba de péngyǒu gēn bàba yīqǐ hējiǔ. ——>Dad’s friend with dad together drink alcohol. ( Dad’s friend drinks alcohol with dad.) 爸爸的朋友跟爸爸一起喝酒。

Depending on “who” you want to ask, you place shéi differently. Nǐ gēn shéi qù zhōngguó？- You are going to China with who? vs Shéi gēn nǐ qù zhōngguó？- Who go to China with you?