Basic sentece structure

Chinese is a SVO-language. This means that most sentences can be analyzed as having the basic structure Subject? - Verb? - Object?. For example :
我要一杯茶
wo3 yao3 yi1 bei1 cha2
I - to want - one - cup - tea
I would like a cup of tea.

S : 我 - wo3 - I
V : 要 - yao4 - to want
O : 一杯茶 - yi1 bei1 cha2 - a cup of tea

Sometimes the subject, the object or both can be omitted.
他很大
ta1 hen3 da4
he - to be big
He's big.

S : 他 - ta1 - he
V : 很大 - hen3 da4 - to be big

This sentence has no object. The verb is of a special kind called a stative verb?. It says something about the state of being of the subject. In English you would use the 'to be', but saying 他是很大 would be wrong in Chinese. The verb '是 - shi4 - to be' is never used when describing a property of something (e.g. height, color, weight).

The subject is often omitted when it is clear from the context. In a shop you might say:

不用袋子
bu2 yong4 dai4zi
to not need - bag
(I) don't need a bag

V : 不用 - bu2 yong4 - to not need
O : 袋子 - dai4zi - bag

Adverbs

Time and place

Coverbs

Specific patterns