Prepositions
Mandarin "prepositions" are coverbs — verbs that grammaticalized into little relation-markers (给 still means "to give"; as a coverb it means "for/to"). The rule that follows from that history: the whole coverb phrase goes before the main verb, like the verb it once was.
The core set
| coverb | as a preposition | original verb sense | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 在 zài | at / in / on | "to be at" | 我在家工作 wǒ zài jiā gōngzuò — "I work at home" |
| 给 gěi | for / to (someone) | "to give" | 我给你做饭 wǒ gěi nǐ zuò fàn — "I'll cook for you" |
| 从 cóng | from | "to follow" | 我从北京来 wǒ cóng Běijīng lái — "I come from Beijing" |
| 跟 gēn | with | "to follow" | 我跟他一起去 wǒ gēn tā yīqǐ qù — "I'm going with him" |
| 对 duì | towards / regarding | "to face" | 他对我很好 tā duì wǒ hěn hǎo — "he's good to me" |
| 到 dào | to (destination) | "to arrive" | 我到上海去 wǒ dào Shànghǎi qù — "I'm going to Shanghai" |
| 离 lí | (distance) from | "to leave" | 我家离地铁站很近 wǒ jiā lí dìtiězhàn hěn jìn — "my place is close to the metro" |
BEFORE the verb — always
The coverb phrase is glued in front of the main verb, never dangled after it as in English:
| English shape (wrong) | correct Mandarin |
|---|---|
| 我工作在家 ✗ | 我在家工作 wǒ zài jiā gōngzuò — "I work at home" |
| 她打电话给我 (southern/marginal) | 她给我打电话 tā gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà — "she calls me" |
| 我去跟朋友 ✗ | 我跟朋友去 wǒ gēn péngyou qù — "I go with friends" |
(Exception you'll meet later: a few result-like phrases follow the verb — 住在北京 zhù zài Běijīng "live in Beijing", 放在桌子上 fàng zài zhuōzi shang "put on the table".)
在 + place + position word
Where English has in/on/under/behind as separate prepositions, Mandarin uses 在 + noun + a position word after the noun:
| 在桌子上 zài zhuōzi shang | "on the table" | lit. "at table's top" |
| 在房间里 zài fángjiān li | "in the room" | |
| 在车下 zài chē xià | "under the car" | |
| 在银行旁边 zài yínháng pángbiān | "next to the bank" | |
| 在学校对面 zài xuéxiào duìmiàn | "opposite the school" |
So "the book is on the table" = 书在桌子上 shū zài zhuōzi shang — no verb "to be" needed; 在 is the verb.
从…到… — from…to…
从早到晚 cóng zǎo dào wǎn — "from morning to night" 从北京到上海 cóng Běijīng dào Shànghǎi — "from Beijing to Shanghai"
离 lí — the distance word Europeans miss
Static distance ("X is far from / close to Y") takes 离, not 从:
机场离市中心很远 jīchǎng lí shìzhōngxīn hěn yuǎn — "the airport is far from the city center" (从 ✗)
The takeaway
A small, learnable set — no case government (nothing like German mit + dative), no fused article forms (au, du, im). Two habits: coverb phrase before the verb, and position words like 上/里 after the noun. Think of each coverb as a mini-verb and the order falls out naturally.
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