New Members trasder Posted August 27, 2018 at 08:53 AM New Members Report Share Posted August 27, 2018 at 08:53 AM Hi, Could you explain the grammar behind the word order in 他今天气色不太好 ? Why is 今天 between 他 and 气色? I would have expected it to be either at the head of the sentence or after 气色 (assuming that 气色 is the subject of 不太好). Not knowing much about Chinese grammar I make a wild guess: Is 他 the topic? Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted August 27, 2018 at 04:54 PM Report Share Posted August 27, 2018 at 04:54 PM 7 hours ago, trasder said: I make a wild guess: Is 他 the topic? Yes. Sentences like this are very common in Chinese. If you wanted to make it more explicit, you could say 至于他，今天气色不太好. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:55 AM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 02:55 AM 18 hours ago, trasder said: Why is 今天 between 他 and 气色? https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Time_words_and_word_order 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beelzebro Posted August 28, 2018 at 03:36 PM Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 at 03:36 PM If you were to place 今天 at the beginning of the sentence it would feel like you are placing emphasis on it. Like "TODAY he doesn't look well" as opposed to "he doesn't look well today". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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