wǒ xǐhuan mǎ.

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Breakdown of wǒ xǐhuan mǎ.

• 喜欢xǐhuan: to like
• 马mǎ: horse

Questions & Answers about wǒ xǐhuan mǎ.

Why is the word order 我 喜欢 马? Is it the same as English?

Yes. This sentence uses the very common Subject + Verb + Object order:

• 我 = subject
• 喜欢 = verb
• 马 = object

So it works like English I like horses / I like horse(s).

Chinese often feels different from English, but in simple sentences like this, the basic word order is very familiar.

Is 喜欢 one word or two words?

喜欢 is normally treated as one two-syllable word meaning to like.

Even though it is written with two characters:

• 喜
• 欢

you should learn 喜欢 as a single vocabulary item.

This is very common in Mandarin: many words are made of two characters but function as one word.

Why is xǐhuan written without a tone mark on huan?

Because in 喜欢, the second syllable huan is usually pronounced in the neutral tone.

So the pronunciation is:

• xǐ = third tone
• huan = neutral tone

That is why you may see it written as xǐhuan instead of xǐhuān.

The neutral tone is shorter and lighter than a full tone.