"If" statements

Use the examples with their context and limits. Recall a sentence before reading the model. Original teaching additions accompany examples adapted from Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning, CC BY-NC-SA); see the course reference provenance.

要是 … ，就 … (if — spoken)

Advice depends on the stated condition

• You tell a friend to rest if tired.
• 要是你累了，就休息吧。 — Tiredness is the condition for the advice to rest.

Build the form

• The pattern in this lesson is 要是 … ，就 … (if — spoken). Locate it in the original interlinear examples below.
• Keep the words in their demonstrated positions; the pattern must fit the intended situation as well as the sentence form.

if要是yào shiyou你nǐtired累lèi了le，then就jiùrest休息xiū xi吧ba。

Read examples in context

• In the opening example, 要是你累了，就休息吧。: Tiredness is the condition for the advice to rest.
• Explain who acts, what is described and which time or group is relevant before choosing an English paraphrase.

Know the boundary

• 要是 is a conversational conditional.
• 就 is common but not compulsory in every 要是 construction.

Use the distinction

• Tiredness is the condition for the advice to rest.
• 要是 is a conversational conditional. 就 is common but not compulsory in every 要是 construction.

Try it with help closed

You tell a friend to rest if tired. Close the examples. Say a Mandarin response, then write it in Chinese. Explain briefly in English what the lesson’s pattern adds. Compare with the model, then change one detail and try again.

One possible response: 要是你累了，就休息吧。

• My response conveys a message that fits the opening situation.
• I can explain the meaning of the pattern, rather than only naming it.
• 要是 is a conversational conditional.
• 就 is common but not compulsory in every 要是 construction.
• I tried a second response with a name, time, place, or description changed.

Practise this pattern step by step.