Stop using "Chīfàn" wrong! || How to spot a V+O in Chinese

Note: If you are new to characters or generally want some support while working through the example sentences in the next sections, we HIGHLY recommend downloading this plugin! It will help a ton with character reading, both in this article, and on the greater web in general. If you’ve already installed it, carry on! :)

Friend: How do you say ‘to eat’?
Me: "Chīfàn".
Friend: Cool. "Wǒ xǐhuān chīfàn Pizza."
Me: slaps forehead

If you didn’t get it, that’s ok! But, it’s also a really good thing you’re reading this article. :P

What are V+Os (Verb+objects)

We have these things in Chinese that look and function like verbs, but they are actually what we call ‘verb + objects’ (VOs).

Just like the name sounds, the first word is the verb, and the second word is the most common object that is paired with that verb.
Put them together, and it gives us the general term for things like eating, running, etc.

Some examples include:

chī fàn
eat + food (“rice”)

pǎo bù
run + steps

zǒu lù
walk + the road

xǐ zǎo
to “wash” [take]+ a shower

Why do we need an object in there?

When we say things like "I want to go eat", or "I like eating", in English, there is no object there.

But in general, Chinese likes to have things in pairs, so if we float a one-word verb without an object on the end, especially at the end of a sentence, it feels kinda empty or incomplete…

So we say "chīfàn" to round it out.

You don’t want to make our verbs lonely, do you?

Aside from just convention, in many cases, verbs can have multiple meanings depending on the object that follows. Which is another reason why adding the object is so important.

Shuō means to speak (general), but also to say (a specific thing).
Zǒu means to walk, but also to leave.
Pǎo means to run, but also to flee (note the similarity here).

Can you see now why this is important? :P

Including the object at the end removes any ambiguity that we are talking about the general activity, and not something else.

How do I know if it’s a V+O or just a two-character verb?

Here’s a good rule to live by.
Ask yourself: have I ever heard this ‘verb’ shortened to only the first syllable?
If so, you have yourself a V+O!

Words like shuì, chī, zǒu, or pǎo, you have probably heard isolated before!

On the flip side, you can also ask yourself: have I ever heard ONLY the second word in the ‘verb’ used as a noun before?

If so, you also have yourself a V+O!

You’ve probably heard words like lù (road) or fàn (food) used in isolation, so that’s also a good sign that chīfàn and zǒulù are V+Os.

For less commonly isolated verbs that you’re not sure about, just experiment with it and ask questions. :)

As long as you are aware that it COULD be a V+O, you are in a good spot. As a fluent speaker, I’m already much less likely to tease you!

Adding in Non-general Objects

The joke at the beginning of the article alluded to this, but when we want to add a non-general object to our sentence like pizza, we DO NOT just add it to the end of a V+O.

We have to replace the original, general object with the new, specific object that we want to use.


General
Wǒ yào chīfàn.
I want to eat (food).

Specific
Wǒ yào chī pīsà.
I want to eat pizza.

Nonsense
Wǒ yào chī fàn pīsà.
I want to eat food pizza.


If you’ve said something like this before, you are definitely not alone. This is a VERY common misunderstanding. Because not everyone knows about V+Os!


Side Note: translating words in isolation is dangerous as a whole. But you already know that ;)


If you know someone that still does this, be a good friend and lovingly share this article with them.
But make sure you don’t tease them TOO much! :)

Why else is it important to know about V+Os?

Other than allowing us to provide more context when we speak, knowing how to use V+Os correctly unlocks a bunch of useful sentence structures and is crucial when learning things like adverbs, duration,and verb complements.

When we want to say things like "I run really fast" or "I ran for 3 hours", we need to be able to isolate the verbs so we can modify the right things.

In English, this isn’t as important because you can throw adverbs and durations at the end of everything and it doesn’t matter.

"I ate food quickly" and "I studied Chinese for an hour" are completely acceptable things to say.

In Chinese, it is important to keep your modifiers with the thing you are modifying.
This is kind of like math. I personally respect and actually really appreciate this fact, but some people need a little extra help with it. :)

(More examples on the power of V+Os coming soon!)

Recap:

• We use V+Os to provide context and sound complete.
• We CANNOT add specific objects on the end of V+Os.
• We MUST replace general objects with our new specific object. (fàn>pīsà)
• We can tell if it’s a V+O if the first or second word can be used independently.
• Understanding V+Os is super useful and unlocks a bunch of useful sentence structures.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope this was helpful!

If you have a friend that needs to read this article, please, for everyone’s sake, share it with them, but be nice about it :P