BONUS: “How Does What" - Adverbs of Range

Reminder About "How Does What" (Adverbs)

The Mandarin Blueprint “Grammar Word” (GW) tags focus on the different parts of speech and ways of categorizing them. For example, what are the different ways to use adverbs in Mandarin Chinese? 

In our tagging system, we refer to adverbs as “How-DoesWhat,” because that’s how they function. Adverbs tell you how an individual action takes place. We divide the sentences that contain adverbs in The Mandarin Blueprint Method Foundation Course into six categories:

1. Deny 否定 - An adverb that denies or negates the action (Phase 3)
2. How Often 频率 - An adverb that shows the frequency of an action (Phase 4)
3. In What Range 范围 - An adverb that specifies the range of an action (Phase 4)
4. Time 时间 - An adverb that adds context to the amount of time that relates to an action (Phase 4)
5. To What Degree 程度 - An adverb that specifies the degree of an action (Phase 3)
6. Tone of Voice 语气 - An adverb that influences the tone of voice surrounding the action (Phase 4)

The Chinese word for “adverb” is 副词 fùcí, which translates to “‘auxiliary’ or ‘subsidiary’ word.” Considering that you can't use adverbs alone and must attach them to an action, “subsidiary” is an apt description.

That’s why the six tags are as follows:

GW-[How-DoesWhat]-Deny-副词-否定
GW-[How-DoesWhat]-How-Often-副词-频率
GW-[How-DoesWhat]-In-What-Range-副词-范围
GW-[How-DoesWhat]-Time-副词-时间
GW-[How-DoesWhat]-To-What-Degree-副词-程度
GW-[How-DoesWhat]-Tone-Of-Voice-副词-语气

In The Mandarin Blueprint Method “Grammar Building” flashcard decks, you can find all sentences that have these tags in the sidebar of your flashcard program.

GW-[How-DoesWhat]-In-What-Range-副词-范围

Whenever you think of how an adverb works, remember that there’s a simpler sentence that exists without it. An adverb never makes the sentence go from being grammatically incorrect to grammatically correct, but it sure can change the meaning. 

For this lesson, we’ll use the tag #GB-[How-DoesWhat]-In-What-Range-副词-范围 to illustrate this point.

Sentence 1:

我只担心我的儿子。- Level 13
Wǒ zhǐ dānxīn wǒde érzi
I only worry about my son.

Without the adverb 只 ‘only,’ this sentence means, “I’m worried about my son.” There’s nothing wrong with that sentence grammatically, but by adding 只, you specify in what range you feel worried. Perhaps you worry about everything. Maybe you worry about your son, along with hundreds of other things. Without adding an adverb that specifies the range, there’s no way to tell.

After adding 只, however, we know that the speaker’s worry is limited only to the son.

Sentence  2:

他光会说空话。- Preview Sentence
Tā guāng huì shuō kōnghuà 。
He's all talk.

Another adverb similar to this, but a little more advanced would be 光 guāng, which is used in a similar way.

Sentence  3:

仅仅一个多月我就减掉了十磅! - Preview Sentence
Jǐnjǐn yī gè duō yuè wǒ jiù jiǎndiào le shí bàng 。
I lost ten pounds in just a little over a month! 

How about another adverb 仅仅 jǐnjǐn, which also means “only,” but in the sense of “not that much” or “merely.”

Sentence 4:

人每天都要吃饭。- Level 15
Rén měitiān dōu yào chīfàn
People all need/want to eat every day. 

The way Chinese uses 都 ‘all’ can be tricky for people to conceptualize because, in English, it’s often unnecessary to say. In this sentence, it’s an emphasizer of quantity.

You could say “人每天要吃饭” and be grammatically correct, but people will rarely say it that way. Why? Because 都 emphasizes high quantity, and most people naturally think of “every day” (每天) as a lot of days. 

Another way to use 都 dōu to specify range is more literal. For example, “你们三个人都要吃饭吗? Do all three of you want to eat?” Here, 都 is still specifying range because not all three people may want to eat.

Sentence  5:

行为的改变才会带来结果的改变。- Level 18
Xíngwéi de gǎibiàn cái huì dàilái jiéguǒ de gǎibiàn
Only changes in behavior will bring about changes in results. 

We love this one! In this sentence, the adverb 才 indicates that the previously specified statement is the only way to achieve the following statement. If you remove 才, the message is, “Changes in behavior bring about changes in results.” By adding 才, you limit the range considerably. ONLY changes in behavior will bring about changes in results. Theoretically, something else could change the results, but by adding 才, you’ve specified that, nope, it’s only behavior! Cool, eh?

Sentence  6:

你主要是太害怕了。- Level 19
Nǐ zhǔyào shì tài hàipà le
Mainly, you’re too scared.

主要 is an adverb for specifying the range of relevant factors. 

For example, perhaps someone is preparing to give a speech. They’ve prepared well, they know the topic inside and out, got plenty of sleep, had a good breakfast, etc., but they’re still quite scared about the speech. It’s at this point that the speaker may say “你主要是太害怕了” because they want to specify that other factors aren’t as important.

Sentence  7:

中国银行就在我家对面。- Level 19
Zhōngguó yínháng jiù zài wǒ jiā duìmiàn
Bank of China is right across the street from my house.

As you’ve likely already discovered, 就 has a lot of usages in Chinese. In this case, it’s specifying precision.   

The speaker adds 就 to clarify that it’s not just across the street in general, it’s directly across the street. Whenever you want to emphasize that something is exactly as you say, use 就 before the verb. 

Something you’ll hear all the time is somebody responding to a question with 就是, which is the speaker clarifying that something is exactly right. Keep an eye (and ear!) out for it.

Sentence  8:

你完全做错了。- Level 21
Nǐ wánquán zuòcuò le
You did it completely wrong.

You didn’t you just it wrong; you did it COMPLETELY (完全) wrong. Once again, 完全 is not a requirement for the sentence to make sense; it just specifies the range. Perhaps you did something wrong, but only a part of it. If that were true, the speaker could say, “你做错了 You did it wrong” or “你有一部分做错了 nǐ yǒu yībùfende zuòcuò le - You partially did it wrong.” Unfortunately for you, the speaker needed to specify 完全. Bummer!

Click Here to Navigate Phase 4 Grammar Points

Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

Do you also want to leave a comment? You can do so below！

Andreas Lienemann

These are so well made, and helpful! Thank you Luke & Phil.

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Kate Gans

Thanks for adding the Grammar Point videos! It’s given me a better understanding of not only the words used but also how these sentences are structured (adverb before verb) which wasn’t obvious to me before.

Mandarin Blueprint

Thrilled to hear that you're enjoying them, Kate!

Mandarin Blueprint

Here's the link to where Phil & Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcB9QNQzVw8&t=3555s

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Jason Pon

Love these as always. If feedback was invited, I would suggest a supplementary to these videos to assist for natural visual learners like myself (and probably for lots of others in this course now who may have adapted to visual learning!). It would be great to have a little 1 page cheat sheet pdf page for each grammar point video that helps to illustratively lay out and summarize all of the main points without the detailed explanations above. I think the main benefit from a visual perspective is just lay out the main takeaways (i.e. adverbs before verbs, the different categories of the grammar point; in this case Luke explained there are a few words here that convey the general meaning of 'only'), etc.

MB Team

This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYhT1gXaDNM&t=2725s

Jason Pon

Oops - another benefit I want to mention is that in addition to a visual summary, it also helps with quick reference. I could simply save them as photos on my phone and refer to them (similar to how I have saved the MB pinyin chart as a photo that I often refer to). These videos are great for periodic deep reviews, but sometimes when I want to quickly check in or even pop quiz myself, these quick guides would be very helpful and accessible.

MB Team

This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYhT1gXaDNM&t=2779s