Serial Verb Constructions (连动句) | Chinese (Mandarin) Grammar

The serial verb construction (连动句, liándòngjù, literally "linked-verb sentence") is one of the workhorses of everyday Chinese. A single subject fires off two or more verbs in a row — 坐车回家 (sit-vehicle-return-home = "take the bus home"), 去买东西 ("go buy things") — and, crucially, nothing joins them. No "and," no "to," no comma. English almost always needs a connector between two verbs ("go and buy," "sit down to rest"); Chinese just stacks the verbs, and their order tells you the order the events happen in. Once you stop reaching for a joining word, whole sentences fall into place.

What a serial verb sentence looks like

The pattern is simply: Subject + V1 (+ object) + V2 (+ object). Both verbs belong to the same subject, and there is no conjunction of any kind sitting between them.

我下班去超市买点东西。

wǒ xiàbān qù chāoshì mǎi diǎn dōngxi

After work I'll swing by the supermarket and grab a few things. (informal) — three verbs in a row: 下班 → 去 → 买, no connector.

他坐高铁回老家过年。

tā zuò gāotiě huí lǎojiā guònián

He's taking the bullet train back home for the New Year. (neutral) — 坐 → 回 → 过, all sharing 他.

快开门进来吧，外面下雨了。

kuài kāimén jìnlai ba, wàimiàn xià yǔ le

Hurry up, open the door and come in — it's raining out there. (informal) — 开门 then 进来, event follows event.

The mental switch for an English speaker: delete the connector. "Go and buy" is just 去买; "come to help" is just 来帮. If you find yourself hunting for the Chinese word for "and" or "to" between two verbs, that instinct is what's leading you astray.

💡

Chinese does have a word for "and" — 和 (hé) — but it only ever links nouns (咖啡和茶 "coffee and tea"). It cannot link two verbs. There is no 和 inside a serial verb sentence, ever. See 和 joins nouns, not verbs.

Order mirrors real-world sequence

This is the single most important principle: the verbs appear in the order the actions occur. Chinese is iconic here — the sentence is a timeline. Reverse the verbs and you either change the meaning or produce nonsense.

她洗手做饭。

tā xǐ shǒu zuò fàn

She washes her hands and cooks. (neutral) — first wash, then cook.

她做饭洗手。

tā zuò fàn xǐ shǒu

She cooks and (then) washes her hands. (neutral) — the flipped order describes a different sequence of events.

Because the order is doing real semantic work, you cannot rearrange the verbs for stylistic reasons the way English sometimes lets you ("she cooked, having washed her hands"). The first verb is the first event, full stop.

我们找个地方坐下来聊聊。

wǒmen zhǎo ge dìfang zuò xialai liáoliao

Let's find somewhere to sit down and have a chat. (informal) — 找 → 坐下来 → 聊, the natural chain of events.

他拿起手机看了看时间。

tā ná qǐ shǒujī kàn le kàn shíjiān

He picked up his phone and checked the time. (neutral) — you pick it up before you look.

Three flavors of serial verb sentence

Serial verbs come in a few recurring shapes, each with its own page. Recognizing the flavor tells you how to read the relationship between the two verbs:

Relationship	V1 does what?	Example	Read more
Purpose	V1 = 去/来 (motion), V2 = the goal	去买东西 "go (in order) to buy things"	去/来 + verb
Means / manner	V1 = how V2 is done	坐车去 "go by bus"	means & manner
Sequence	V1 then V2, one after another	开门进来 "open the door and come in"	this page

A very common sub-type is the coverb pattern — 用筷子吃饭 ("eat with chopsticks"), 跟朋友聊天 ("chat with a friend") — where the first verb has drifted into acting like an English preposition. That has its own full treatment on the coverb + verb page.

我用微信付了钱。

wǒ yòng Wēixìn fù le qián

I paid with WeChat. (informal) — 用 (use) sets up the means; 付钱 is the real action.

下课以后我想去操场跑步。

xià kè yǐhòu wǒ xiǎng qù cāochǎng pǎobù

After class I want to go to the field for a run. (informal) — 去 (go) + 跑步 (run) is a purpose serial.

💡

Aspect markers like 了 usually attach to the last verb, the one that carries the completed result: 我下楼买了一瓶水 "I went downstairs and bought a bottle of water." Marking the first motion verb (去了买) sounds wrong — the whole event completes at the end.

Common Mistakes

1. Joining the two verbs with 和. 和 links nouns, never verbs. Learners transfer English "and" straight into 和 here.

❌ 我去和买东西。

Incorrect — 和 can't join two verbs; just stack them.

✅ 我去买东西。

wǒ qù mǎi dōngxi

I'm going to buy some things. — verb + verb, no connector.

2. Dropping a "then" word in where none belongs. For a tight serial chain you don't need 然后 (ránhòu, "then"); it belongs between separate clauses, not between the verbs of one event.

❌ 我坐车然后回家。

Odd — 然后 splits one motion event into two; it sounds like two unrelated actions.

✅ 我坐车回家。

wǒ zuò chē huí jiā

I take the bus home. — one smooth serial event.

3. Reversing the natural order. Because word order is the timeline, flipping the verbs flips (or breaks) the meaning.

❌ 我回家坐车。

Wrong for 'take the bus home' — this literally says 'go home, then take a bus.'

✅ 我坐车回家。

wǒ zuò chē huí jiā

I take the bus home. — the means (坐车) comes before the arrival (回家).

4. Repeating the subject before the second verb. The two verbs share one subject; don't restate the pronoun.

❌ 我去我买东西。

Incorrect — the second 我 is redundant; both verbs already belong to the first subject.

✅ 我去买东西。

wǒ qù mǎi dōngxi

I'm going to buy things. — one subject, two verbs.

Key Takeaways

A serial verb sentence (连动句) stacks two or more verbs under one subject with no conjunction — no 和, no "to," no comma.
The order of the verbs is the order of the events: 坐车回家 = take the bus, then arrive home. Reversing them changes the meaning.
The main flavors are purpose (去买东西), means/manner (坐车去), and sequence (开门进来) — each covered on its own page.
和 joins nouns only; if you're tempted to put "and" between two verbs, delete it.
Completion 了 lands on the final verb, the one that carries the result.

Now practice Chinese

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Chinese→