Language/Mandarin-chinese/Grammar/Transition-words

Chinese Transition Words - How To Use Them Correctly?

你好 Chinese Learners! 😃

➡ In today's lesson you will learn how to use some useful transition words in Mandarin Chinese.

Happy learning!

Don't hesitate to look into these other pages after completing this lesson: 是...的, How to ask a question in Chinese, 了 le & How to Use be.

There are a lot of transitional words in Chinese.

And these are the kind of little words that can make your conversations much more fluid and understandable if you know how to use them orally.

For example I bet you already know the character 和 to translate the word "And" in Chinese

Except that in practice it is not a transitional word in Chinese because you cannot connect 2 sentences together with this word.

So, I will not only give you the different possible translations of the word "and" in Chinese.

I will also explain to you in which situations to use each word.

And above all, what are the mistakes to avoid!

The problem with 和

Come on, let's start right away with the word 和, which you necessarily know to translate the conjunction “and” in Chinese but I will explain to you why it is very often, not necessarily the best choice to say “and in Chinese.

So 和 basically it's used to connect 2 names together in Chinese. So for example you can say:

---

我喜欢咖啡和茶

I like coffee and tea

---

And you see in this sentence, the word 和 is used to connect 2 names together, therefore coffee and tea. But like I told you a little before, in fact that's about all the word 和 can do.

For example, you cannot connect 2 adjectives together and say for example:

---

我很高和很帅

I am tall and handsome

---

This sentence is grammatically correct since 高 and 帅 are 2 adjectives and therefore you do not have the right to link them together with the link word 和.

Same if you want to connect 2 sentences together, for example if you want to say I went to the pharmacy AND I bought some bread on the way home. You see in this sentence, you are not allowed to translate the word "and" by 和 in Chinese because here you are not connecting 2 names together but 2 sentences.

So even if I know that the word 和 is the word that we learn first in Chinese to translate “and” and well in practice it is not very useful and it is not the one we use most.

So now I will explain to you the different transition words that must be used to translate the word "and" for all the cases where the word 和 does not work.

Connect 2 adjectives with the conjunction 也

So let's start with the case where you want to connect 2 adjectives together. So for the example I am going to use the sentence "I am tall and handsome", so in this sentence we actually want to connect 2 adjectives.

So to do that you can use the transition word 也 to say:

---

我很高，也很帅

I am tall and handsome

---

You see in that sentence, we used the transitional word 也 to connect the adjective 高 and the adjective 帅 together.

So even if at the base 也 it also means, in fact in practice it is a Chinese grammatical particle which can take several different meanings depending on how you use it including the meaning of "and".

You also have the option of using a duplicate structure 又 to connect your adjectives together

That we could translate by "both adjective 1 AND both adj 2"

So with this structure, the sentence I am tall and handsome will be said in Chinese:

---

我又高，又帅

I am tall and handsome

---

But in fact it is you want to better understand the idea behind this structure, it is better to translate by "I am both tall AND at the same time handsome". With the duplicate structure 又 there is this idea that something is both A and both B.

So there you have it, please note that in Chinese, if you want to connect 2 adjectives together you do not have the right to use the conjunction 和 even if I know that in English we translate this word by "and" ..

If you want to connect adjectives together, either connect them with the particle 也 or with a duplicate structure 又.

Connect 2 instructions together with the conjunction 然后

Okay now I would like to show you how to connect 2 sentences together with the conjunction 然后 which could be translated by "And then"

So 然后 you must have heard this word before, since it is probably the most used oral transitional word in Chinese. Besides, when you don't understand anything in a conversation in Chinese, often the only words you understand are 然后 blablabla 就 blabla

In short, 然后 it's a word that I advise you to abuse because it will make your sentences and explanations more structured in Chinese. But there are still 2-3 tips to know to use it well.

Already, you can't start your sentences with 然后. It seems logical but I will remind you all the same, 然后 it's a transition word, it means that by definition, there must be a sentence before from which you want to make a transition

For example you can say:

---

我们先去公园, 然后我们去吃饭

Let's go to the park first, then we go to eat

---

You see here 然后 allowed to connect 2 instructions together. The first is we go to the park, and 2 e is we will eat. Here again, you could not have used the conjunction 和 since you are not connecting 2 nouns together, nor the conjunction 也 since you are not connecting 2 adjectives together

Another thing noted is that you sometimes often the conjunction 然后 coupled with the word xian1.

So 先 it means “first or foremost” and it's a logical connector that allows you to put your instructions in the right order. Moreover, in practice this word is often omitted orally.

But hey, it's still a good habit to get into using the word 先 in your first instruction, then the word 然后 in your 2 nd to tidy up what you say.

Another tip is that you can use 然后 to ask questions like:

---

然后呢 ?

Then what ?

---

To request the continuation of a story or the next instruction. For example a friend tells you something that happened to him this morning. He tells you something like this: This morning I ran into my ex on my way to work!

And if you want to know the rest, you can say “然后 呢? To translate the idea: And after? between quotes what happened? You have spoken to him ? Did she recognize you? The people want to know!

Connect 2 sentences together with the conjunction 而且

We continue with another transitional word in Chinese that is very common orally, it is 而且

So 而且 we could translate it in English by: "and in addition" and similar it is a transitional word in Chinese which allows to connect 2 sentences together like for example you can say:

---

我做完了我的工作，而且做得很好

I finished my work and did a good job

---

Which means "I finished my work, and in addition I did it well" in quotes I did a good job. You see here 而且 it's a bit like 然后, it connects 2 sentences together.

The only difference is that here there is more this dimension of instruction. Here we just give more details on the previous action

Suddenly you will often see it in grammatical structures such as: It is not only thing, it is also contraption.

Par exemple:

---

我不但很高，而且很帅

I am not only tall, but also handsome

---

You see here 而且 it's almost the same as the grammatical particle 也 we saw at the beginning of the video since it connects 2 adjectives together.

So very practical to add to your collection of transition words in Chinese because it will allow you to form a little more complex structures of the type thing is not only trick, it is also contraption.

Add information with 还有

We continue with the word of transition 还有 which at the base means “there is still” but which can also play the role of a word of transition to translate the idea of ​​“and more”

So the difference with 而且 is that it allows you to add information that you forgot to specify or to add an additional instruction.

For example you can say:

---

你要吃药 , 还有多休息

You need to take medicine and take more rest

---

To say "you have to take your medicine, and also to rest". You see in this sentence, the word 还有 plays the role of a transition word in Chinese to connect 2 instructions together.

The difference with 然后, is that with 还有, there is not this notion of order. You remember with 然后 I told you that it was a good practice to add the word 先 to say first you do and then you do that. And what is good with 还有 is that there is no real order in fact, the 2 instructions are of the same importance

This is the reason why it is a word that you will often hear at a restaurant when you order dishes from the waiters. You can use the word 还有 to add an additional dish to your order

For example you can say:

---

来一瓶可乐, 还有一杯茶

Here is a bottle of coke and a cup of tea

---

To say bring me a bottle of coke, and also a cup of tea. You see the 还有 it allows you to connect your 2 commands together. As if you forgot to say you wanted an extra cup of tea.

The logic connector 那

We continue with another transitional word in Chinese super useful to know so easy to place in your conversations is the word 那

So this word really has a lot of different meanings in Chinese, but one of its possible uses is to translate the idea of ​​"And" in the sense "and in this case

For example if someone tells you “我 以前 不会 游泳” which means that before I could not swim ”. You can answer by saying:

---

那现在呢？

what about now?

---

You see in this sentence the word na4 it is used to make the connection between the previous statement and your question

It's super easy to use, just start your sentence with this word. On the other hand, it is only used to bounce off someone else's affirmation and not for your own affirmations. This is to indicate that we are acting on what the other person has said in a conversation. That way we easily understand that you want to bounce back from what the person told you.

Another meaning of 那 that you can write down is "Then". It's the same meaning as "then" in English but it's very familiar and it allows you to bounce back on what you just heard.

For example imagine if the person tells you that they still cannot swim today. You can bounce again by making the transition with the word na4 saying:

---

那你为什么不学呢？

Then why don't you learn?

---

You see once again here the word na4 allowed us to make the connection between what the person said and your question.

It's really a cool word to know that will allow you to sound much more fluid and natural when spoken because you can easily bounce back from what someone said simply by adding this little word before your question.

The transition word 接下来

And finally we end with a word of transitons a little more formal but nevertheless very useful to know it is: 接下来

So 接下来 it means "And" but in the sense "We go on with". It is a word that you will use when an action has just ended to pass on a sequence of events to come.

For example you can say

---

接下来，要买什么呢

Next, what should I buy?

---

That we could translate by "And now, What should we buy" but you see, the fact of having started your sentence with "接下来" it allows to highlight the fact that you have just finished an action and that now you are waiting for the following instructions.

Here in this case must imagine that you are shopping with someone, but that you do not know the list of things to buy. So imagine you went to the leg section to buy a package, and now you would like to know what to do next. Well you can say

---

接下来，要买什么呢？

Next, what should I buy?

---

It is a transitional word in Chinese often used by teachers or TV presenters of an event or even a show to announce the next program or the next activity.

It's common to hear a presenter say "Thank you stuff for your participation it was cool we learned a lot of stuff, And now we chain with blah blah

You see the "and now we go on with" you will translate it with 接下来. So you have to have a little bit of authority to be able to use this word. A bit as if you were the leader of an event, the guide of a group, the teacher of a class etc ...

More transition words

Grammar Point (English)	Pattern	Examples
Expressing "and" with "he"	Noun 1 + 和 + Noun 2	我 和 他 都 不 去。
Offering choices with "haishi"	A + 还是 + B ?	你 要 喝 茶 还是 咖啡 ?
Expressing "with" with "gen"	跟⋯⋯ + Verb	你 要 跟 我 一起 去 吗？
Expressing "or" in statements	⋯⋯或者⋯⋯	我 想 去 青岛 或者 南京。
Expressing "in addition" with "haiyou"	⋯⋯ ，还有 ，⋯⋯	你 需要 吃 药 。还有，要 多 休息 。
A softer "but" with "buguo"	⋯⋯ ，不过 ⋯⋯	他 的 汉语 口语 不错 ，不过 不 认识 汉字 。
Expressing "how about" with "yaobu"	Reason / Situation，要不 + Suggestion + 吧	下雨 了，要不 明天 再 去 吧 。
Expressing "and then" with "yushi"	⋯⋯ ，于是 ⋯⋯	他 实在 太 懒 了 ，于是 老板 把 他 辞 了 。
Expressing "as well as" with "yiji"	Subj. + 何必 + Predicate	A ，B + 以及 + C
"In order to avoid" with "yimian"	以免 + Verb Phrase	这儿 有 高压电线，请 不要 靠近，以免 发生 危险。

Sources

• http://www.chinesetolearn.com/samples-chinese-transition-words-1-2/
• https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Conjunction

Other Lessons

• Express possession with 有 (yǒu)
• 也 yě
• Negation
• Negation Use 不 (bù) or 没 (mei)
• 叫 (jiào)
• Future Tense
• Be Polite
• Questions with 不 (bù)
• 吗 ma
• Basic structure of a sentence