▎Topic in Sentence (1)

 

Function When you want to describe, explain, or evaluate a person, instance, or thing, you place the person, instance, or thing at the beginning of the sentence as the ‘topic’. The rest of the sentence serves as the ‘comment’. The topic of a sentence is usually the person or thing that is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

1 A：臺灣人喜歡喝烏龍茶嗎？

Táiwān rén xǐhuān hē Wūlóng chá ma?

Do Taiwanese people like to drink Oolong tea?

B：（烏龍茶，）臺灣人都喜歡喝。

(Wūlóng chá,) Táiwān rén dōu xǐhuān hē.

(Oolong tea,) Taiwanese people all like to drink (it).

2 A：你有哥哥、姐姐嗎？

Nǐ yǒu gēge, jiějie ma?

Do you have any brothers and sisters?

B：（哥哥、姐姐，）我都沒有。

(Gēge, jiějie,) wǒ dōu méi yǒu.

(Brothers, sisters,) I have none.

3 A：你想看美國電影還是臺灣電影？

Nǐ xiǎng kàn Měiguó diànyǐng háishì Táiwān diànyǐng?

Do you want to watch an American movie or a Taiwanese movie?

B：（美國電影、臺灣電影，）我都想看。

(Měiguó diànyǐng, Táiwān diànyǐng,) wǒ dōu xiǎng kàn.

(American movie, Taiwanese movie,) I would like to watch either.

 

Structures Topics are always placed at the very beginning of a sentence, and they are most often omitted in active conversations. Thus, topics on the whole do not contribute to the information being conveyed.

1 打棒球，我不喜歡。

Dǎ bàngqiú, wǒ bù xǐhuān.

Playing baseball, I don’t like (it).

2 越南菜，我常吃。

Yuènán cài, wǒ cháng chī.

Vietnamese food, I often eat (it).

3 這張照片，我覺得很好看。

Zhè zhāng zhàopiàn, wǒ juéde hěn hǎokàn.

This photo, I think (it) is quite nice.

 

Usage The highest frequency of topics originates from the objects of transitive verbs.

1 中國菜，我都喜歡吃。

Zhōngguó cài, wǒ dōu xǐhuān chī.

Chinese food, I like to eat (them) all.

2 弟弟、妹妹，我都有。

Dìdi, mèimei, wǒ dōu yǒu.

Younger brothers and younger sisters, I’ve got both.