nàge nǚrén bù chī làjiāo.

not

Breakdown of nàge nǚrén bù chī làjiāo.

• 吃chī: to eat
• 那个nàge: that
• 辣椒làjiāo: chili pepper

Questions & Answers about nàge nǚrén bù chī làjiāo.

Why is there 个 in 那个女人?

In Mandarin, a demonstrative like 这 or 那 usually needs a measure word before a noun.

So this breaks down as:

• 那 = that
• 个 = a general measure word
• 女人 = woman

So 那个女人 literally follows the pattern that + measure word + woman.

A very common beginner pattern is:

• 这个人 = this person
• 那个老师 = that teacher
• 这个苹果 = this apple

Why isn’t there a word for the or a?

Mandarin does not use articles the way English does. There is no direct equivalent of the or a/an in most sentences.

Instead, Mandarin shows specificity in other ways, such as:

• context
• word order
• demonstratives like 这 = this and 那 = that
• numbers and measure words

So 那个女人 already sounds specific because 那 points to a particular woman: that woman.

What is the basic word order of this sentence?