Breakdown of pénzāi fāyá yǐhòu xūyào yángguāng.
需要xūyào
to need
以后yǐhòu
after
盆栽pénzāi
potted plant
阳光yángguāng
sunlight
Questions & Answers about pénzāi fāyá yǐhòu xūyào yángguāng.
Why is the word order 盆栽 发芽 以后 需要 阳光 instead of something more like English word order?
Mandarin usually puts time/background information before the main action.
In this sentence:
- 盆栽 = potted plant
- 发芽以后 = after sprouting
- 需要阳光 = need sunlight
So the structure is basically:
[topic/subject] + [time phrase] + [main verb phrase]
That is very natural in Chinese. English often keeps the subject and verb closer together, but Mandarin commonly inserts time expressions before the main verb.
You can think of it like:
- 盆栽 → what we are talking about
- 发芽以后 → when
- 需要阳光 → what is true at that time
What exactly does 以后 mean here?