<p>Never think of parts of speech when learning Chinese, since Chinese has such concept no earlier than Tang dynasty, which is very short history comparing with Chinese. In fact Chinese parts of speech also have nothing to do with their functions in sentence. Noun could be predicate, verb could be objective, even prep. could be subjective, which is totally different with western languages.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-05T06:55:12.113Z
This is true for classical Chinese, but modern Chinese is less flexible.
KWeiss
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2016-04-19T06:41:37.873Z
well, I think modern Chinese is even more flexible, if not the same as traditional Chinese.
gcd0318
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2016-04-05T05:47:49.510Z
2016-04-05T05:47:49.510Z
gcd0318
<p>Parts of speech are always dicey in Chinese. What is a verb, what is an adjective etc. So, In the sentence 你好！， what part of speech is Hao? </p>

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2016-03-27T18:04:19.043Z
predicate formed by an adjective
user6065
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2016-03-27T18:09:03.913Z
Agree with above.
Stan
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2016-03-28T09:04:32.193Z
Do you want to know about 你好 specifically, or about that type of sentence in general?
KWeiss
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2016-03-28T22:50:12.840Z
Nihao is just an example of similar sentences, I know. But there have been different answers already (one day) and I picked nihao just for the simplicity. So hao could be: a verb - ie; S-V sentence; an adjective modifying the pronoun ni; or an adverb modifying how you are (verb). What's the definitive answer - if there is one?
Steve Davis
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2016-03-29T06:50:34.173Z
It may be different from English grammar. The structure of 你**好** is similar to "你 真 **聪明**" You (are) really clever, "春天来了，草儿**绿**了" Spring comes, grass (turns) green. As the verbs are actually missing in the Chinese sentences, there're different interpretations: 1) the verbs are just omitted, 好, 聪明, 绿 still work as adjectives; 2) introducing the "adjectives can work as verbs" rule – yes, it's common especially in ancient Chinese, "春风又**绿**江南岸", "**厚**此**薄**彼", etc. In my primary school, I were taught the second interpretation, so "predicate formed by an adjective" is quite OK.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-06T02:37:36.703Z
I suggest you pick another example... it's like what part of speech is "he" in "hello".
noru
<grammar>
Parts of speech question.
# Parts of speech question.

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-27)

Parts of speech are always dicey in Chinese. What is a verb, what is an adjective etc. So, In the sentence 你好！， what part of speech is Hao?

**Tags:** grammar

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: predicate formed by an adjective  
> **username_2**: Agree with above.  
> **username_3**: Do you want to know about 你好 specifically, or about that type of sentence in general?  
> **username_0**: Nihao is just an example of similar sentences, I know. But there have been different answers already (one day) and I picked nihao just for the simplicity. So hao could be: a verb - ie; S-V sentence; an adjective modifying the pronoun ni; or an adverb modifying how you are (verb). What's the definitive answer - if there is one?  
> **username_2**: It may be different from English grammar. The structure of 你**好** is similar to "你 真 **聪明**" You (are) really clever, "春天来了，草儿**绿**了" Spring comes, grass (turns) green. As the verbs are actually missing in the Chinese sentences, there're different interpretations: 1) the verbs are just omitted, 好, 聪明, 绿 still work as adjectives; 2) introducing the "adjectives can work as verbs" rule – yes, it's common especially in ancient Chinese, "春风又**绿**江南岸", "**厚**此**薄**彼", etc. In my primary school, I were taught the second interpretation, so "predicate formed by an adjective" is quite OK.  
> **username_4**: I suggest you pick another example... it's like what part of speech is "he" in "hello".  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2016-04-05. Score: 1

Never think of parts of speech when learning Chinese, since Chinese has such concept no earlier than Tang dynasty, which is very short history comparing with Chinese. In fact Chinese parts of speech also have nothing to do with their functions in sentence. Noun could be predicate, verb could be objective, even prep. could be subjective, which is totally different with western languages.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This is true for classical Chinese, but modern Chinese is less flexible.  
> **username_5**: well, I think modern Chinese is even more flexible, if not the same as traditional Chinese.  

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