连动句【liándòngjù】

A serial verb sentence has one subject and two verb phrases in a row, with nothing joining them. They go in the order things happen: getting somewhere comes before what you do there, and the means comes before the action.

Going somewhere to do something

来 or 去 + place comes first; the second verb phrase is what you go there to do. English needs "to"; Chinese needs nothing.

How it's done

坐, 骑, 开 or 用 + noun comes first and says how; the main action follows.

Swapping the halves changes the meaning, because the order is the order of events: 我坐飞机去北京 is flying to Beijing, and 我去北京坐飞机 is going to Beijing to catch a plane there.

有 + noun + verb

有 or 没有 + noun, then a verb, says there is or isn't something to do it with: time, money, a chance.

Negation, modals and 了

不, 没 and modal verbs like 想 or 要 go before the first verb. 了 goes after the second.

• × 我去了超市买很多水果 → 我去超市买了很多水果