Lesson 11: The existence and appearance of people and things: existential sentences

A sentence with a place word at the start, saying that a person or thing exists or appears somewhere.

Hanyu textbook · Hanyu 4 · Lesson 11

树上开着很多花。

Shù shàng kāizhe hěn duō huā.

Lots of flowers are blooming on the tree.

Explanation

Existential sentences are mostly used to describe things objectively. Structure: place word + verb + particle / complement + noun for the person or thing that exists or appears.

The object in the sentence is something whose information is not yet known and is indefinite, so you cannot say: *楼上下来了王老师。(it usually takes “numeral + measure word + noun”, not a proper name or “这个/那个 + noun”).

Structure

1
处所词动词着名词
Says that a person or thing exists in a place and is in the state expressed by the verb.
- 门前种着一棵树。
  Mén qián zhòngzhe yì kē shù.
  A tree is planted in front of the door.
- 树上开着很多花。
  Shù shàng kāizhe hěn duō huā.
  Lots of flowers are blooming on the tree.
2
处所词动词助词/补语名词
Place word + verb + particle / complement + noun (says that a person or thing appears in a place). You cannot say: *楼上下来了王老师。(the object is new, indefinite information)
- 楼下上来一个人。
  Lóu xià shànglái yí ge rén.
  Someone is coming up from downstairs.
- 前面开过来一辆出租车。
  Qiánmiàn kāi guòlái yí liàng chūzūchē.
  A taxi is coming up ahead.
- 前边开过来一辆空车。
  Qiánbian kāi guòlái yí liàng kōngchē.
  An empty car is coming up ahead.

Usage notes

The object in an existential sentence is new, indefinite information, so you cannot say: *楼上下来了王老师。
To talk about a specific, already-known person or thing, switch to an ordinary sentence: 王老师从楼上下来了。

Common mistakes

~~教室里跑出来了麦克。~~
教室里跑出来了一个人。/ 麦克从教室里跑出来了
~~很多同学坐着在草地上。~~
草地上坐着很多同学。/ 很多同学坐在草地上
~~我们班来了这个新老师。~~
我们班来了一位新老师

Practice

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