Who, when, where order

[jdietri2]

I think that this topic has been covered here (or elsewhere), because I've seen it before... but I've scoured the forums and can't seem to find the thread... so sorry if this is a repeat.

I was wondering if there's a standard order for conveying information of the forms:

跟她

在___

昨天

in the same sentence... as if to say "Yesterday I ate dinner with her at my house."

in the form 我 ____ 吃晚饭

In the past I've put it in the order which sounds best to me... but I'm a native English speaker so I realize that may not hold true for Chinese.

Thanks!

[HashiriKata]

Within the three elements you gave, I'd have 昨天, 跟她 and then 在.

This a only general guideline by me and do remember that the order can easily change depending what you want to emphasize, etc.

[trevelyan]

Put dates and times after the subject. Times follow dates:

他 八点钟 吃了饭

我 昨天 看了那部电影

你 昨天 八点钟 在哪里

Put prepositional phrases in front of the main verb:

我 跟他 在一起 唱歌

他们 为人民 工作

谁 给我 买了一个生日礼物

在 can act as a prepositional marker or verb, depending on context:

我 在 北京工作

他的父母 不在

[trevelyan]

Just to clarify.... put the date/time in front of the prepositional clause. So 昨天 needs to go before either 在 or 跟. Both of these are ok, although the first feels a bit more natural, possibly because we say 跟谁在一起:

昨天...跟...在...晚饭

昨天...在...跟...晚饭

[ipsi()]

I've been taught that time-words go either directly before, or directly after, the subject. Thus:

昨天我去游泳。

Or:

我昨天去游泳。

Is this correct?

[semantic nuance]

ipsi(),

Yes, you are right.

Hope it helps!

[ipsi()]

谢谢。