Verbs
Nobody gets far in a language without a good stock of verbs.
By far the most common verb is 是, meaning to be. In English we can use this with an adjective or a noun, but in Mandarin we can only use it to connect nouns with other nouns or noun phrases.
| 我是医生 |
| I am a doctor. |
| 我是李白 |
| I am Li Bai. |
The word order for most common verbs is the same as English.
| 我喜欢你 |
| I like you. |
| 你看他 |
| Look at him. (note that in the second person, this implies a command) |
| 我们去学校 |
| We go to school. |
| 我有一个朋友 |
| I have a friend |
You can refer to a verb in a “gerund” sense without any special modifications.
| 我们喜欢唱歌 |
| We like singing songs. |