<p>Your question is a bit broad. If you want to know the exact rules of when to put 句号 or 逗号, then you better go study some grammar.</p>

<p>I try to explain in an understandable way the fist rule of how I approach proper use of commas and points in Chinese sentences.</p>

<p>Basically, I also feel very confident in English grammar rules and I originally thought that in Chinese the rules for commas don't differ so much. But often Chinese people asked me why I would always use so many 句号 (。). So in a first step, I started to remove 90% of the points and add commas instead, which proved to be much better.</p>

<p>Apparently Chinese people don't use 句号 to finish what I would call a sentence but instead to finish what I would call a paragraph / a block of sentences containing the same subject. Commas basically serve to separate two sentences as I would call them. As an example here part of a letter that I wrote to search for a university supervisor:</p>

<pre><code>我叫罗宾逊，来自瑞士人，毕业于瑞士联邦理工大学电子系。// "Who am I?" (2 commas, 1 point)

我计划今年夏天能够在上海交通大学开始读研究生。
// "What are my plans for the future?" (0 commas, 1 point)

目前我在找一名导师，当我在电气工程系网站看到您的资料时，
我觉得我的学术兴趣与您的研究方向非常符合，而且读完您的传记后，
我看得出您有丰富的经验，这让我很想认识您。
// Summary of why I write this letter (5 commas, 1 point)
</code></pre>

<p>Side note: You will also barely see 句号 in short messages, just because most short messages accord to one broad subject. Like here the subject is "Tonight's dinner": “你什么时候回家，跟要跟我一起吃饭吧，8点多开始做饭，先还要去菜市场买东西呀，来不来”. And of course because people are also just lazy to write points. I know.. who care's about grammar in a short message?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-09T14:51:54.007Z
Thanks for your answer. Basically this is my method, too. Replace most of the 句号s with commas. I was just wondering if there was a more systematic or grammatical way to know. Perhaps my question is too broad for this format, though.
Suragch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-09T14:03:08.137Z
2015-05-09T14:03:08.137Z
flaudre
<p>What are the rules for using commas （， 逗号） and periods （。 句号） in Chinese? In English I'm fairly confident of when to use commas and when to use periods. I learned in school what run-on sentences were and how to fix them with appropriate punctuation or conjunctions. The punctuation rules in Chinese are obviously different, though. Commas are used much more frequently. When I write in Chinese now, I also make liberal use of commas, but I don't know when a period would be more appropriate. Are there any objective punctuation rules to follow? </p>

<p>Similar (but different) questions:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/128/is-the-usage-of-european-punctuation-acceptable-in-chinese-writing">Is the usage of European punctuation acceptable in Chinese writing?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/532/when-was-punctuation-introduced-into-chinese">When was punctuation introduced into Chinese?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/12299/whats-the-difference-between-and">What&#39;s the difference between ，and 、</a></li>
<li><a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/517/when-are-and-and-other-brackets-used">When are &quot;《&quot; and &quot; 》&quot; and other brackets used?</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-09T03:07:39.333Z
Can you elaborate on the question? I don't think comma is much different from in English except there is 顿号（、） for enumeration.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-09T03:26:40.063Z
Commas are used much more frequently than periods in ill-written Chinese.  Period.
Henry HO
<punctuation>
What are the rules for using commas and periods in Chinese?
# What are the rules for using commas and periods in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-05-09)

What are the rules for using commas （， 逗号） and periods （。 句号） in Chinese? In English I'm fairly confident of when to use commas and when to use periods. I learned in school what run-on sentences were and how to fix them with appropriate punctuation or conjunctions. The punctuation rules in Chinese are obviously different, though. Commas are used much more frequently. When I write in Chinese now, I also make liberal use of commas, but I don't know when a period would be more appropriate. Are there any objective punctuation rules to follow?

Similar (but different) questions:

* [Is the usage of European punctuation acceptable in Chinese writing?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/128/is-the-usage-of-european-punctuation-acceptable-in-chinese-writing)
* [When was punctuation introduced into Chinese?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/532/when-was-punctuation-introduced-into-chinese)
* [What's the difference between ，and 、](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/12299/whats-the-difference-between-and)
* [When are "《" and " 》" and other brackets used?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/517/when-are-and-and-other-brackets-used)

**Tags:** punctuation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you elaborate on the question? I don't think comma is much different from in English except there is 顿号（、） for enumeration.  
> **username_2**: Commas are used much more frequently than periods in ill-written Chinese.  Period.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-05-09. Score: 4

Your question is a bit broad. If you want to know the exact rules of when to put 句号 or 逗号, then you better go study some grammar.

I try to explain in an understandable way the fist rule of how I approach proper use of commas and points in Chinese sentences.

Basically, I also feel very confident in English grammar rules and I originally thought that in Chinese the rules for commas don't differ so much. But often Chinese people asked me why I would always use so many 句号 (。). So in a first step, I started to remove 90% of the points and add commas instead, which proved to be much better.

Apparently Chinese people don't use 句号 to finish what I would call a sentence but instead to finish what I would call a paragraph / a block of sentences containing the same subject. Commas basically serve to separate two sentences as I would call them. As an example here part of a letter that I wrote to search for a university supervisor:

```
我叫罗宾逊，来自瑞士人，毕业于瑞士联邦理工大学电子系。// "Who am I?" (2 commas, 1 point)

我计划今年夏天能够在上海交通大学开始读研究生。
// "What are my plans for the future?" (0 commas, 1 point)

目前我在找一名导师，当我在电气工程系网站看到您的资料时，
我觉得我的学术兴趣与您的研究方向非常符合，而且读完您的传记后，
我看得出您有丰富的经验，这让我很想认识您。
// Summary of why I write this letter (5 commas, 1 point)

```

Side note: You will also barely see 句号 in short messages, just because most short messages accord to one broad subject. Like here the subject is "Tonight's dinner": “你什么时候回家，跟要跟我一起吃饭吧，8点多开始做饭，先还要去菜市场买东西呀，来不来”. And of course because people are also just lazy to write points. I know.. who care's about grammar in a short message?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer. Basically this is my method, too. Replace most of the 句号s with commas. I was just wondering if there was a more systematic or grammatical way to know. Perhaps my question is too broad for this format, though.  

---

