兼语句【jiānyǔjù】

In a pivotal sentence the person in the middle does two jobs: they're the object of the first verb and the subject of the second. "The teacher made us" + "we read the text" becomes one sentence, with 我们 shared.

The first verb

The first verb is one of getting someone to do something. 让 and 叫 are "make, let, tell"; 请 is "invite, ask politely"; 要求 is "require"; 派 is "send"; 劝 is "urge".

使 does the same with a feeling or state as the result, and sounds written.

"Ask" is not 问

English "ask someone to do something" is a request, and that's 请 or 让. 问 only asks a question.

• × 我问他来 → 我请他来

Negation and 了

不 or 没 goes before the first verb. 了 never follows the first verb; it goes after the second, or at the end.

• × 老师让了我回答问题 → 老师让我回答了一个问题

有 + person + verb

有人 at the start, with a verb after, says someone is doing something: "there's someone who…".