Dictionary with phrases and/or sentence patterns (grammar?)

[webmagnets]

When I was learning spanish, I could look up a word and the dictionary at wordreference.com would most likely include the definition AND (if needed) a different definition for when the word was included with other words (such as in a phrase).

A couple of days ago i looked up 比不上 bĭbushàng.

nciku gave me the definition, but I had to ask the forum (here) so that I could understand the sentence, because when "nàme hăo" is with it, it gets a different shade of meaning.

Also, I couldn't look up "nàme hăo". it isn't on nciku.

How could I have figured out what those words/phrases mean?

Is there a dictionary that includes sentence patterns? for instance, if I look up "shì", I want it to also include the "shì ... de" construction.

[leeyah]

比不上 is a phrase made up of 比 as main verb (=to compare), 不 stands for negation, 上 is a directional verb & translates as "with", so the whole phrase "x比不上y" means "x can't compare with y". similar phrases >> 不比, 赶不上,吃不上, etc + 那么好

A tip: no dictionary can teach you grammar, you'll need a good vocab-builder textbook for that ,with explanations of phrases in context. And plenty of work.

Some links to get you started:

grammar:

elementary chinese

exercises-answers

mandarin essential grammar

chinese sentence patterns>>this one requires Big 5 (traditional Chinese, or you can copy the Big5 text & paste it in a character converter

dictionary:

有道桌面词典

ChineseDic.com

bilingual online sentence database: 句酷

Have fun!

Edited October 2, 2009 at 05:47 PM by leeyah

[c_redman]

Dictionary for Readers of Modern Chinese Prose (http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/298-china-blog-rss-feeds01)

It doesn't have your specific examples, but it it does have details on many other common constructions.

[webmagnets]

The "Dictionary for Readers of Modern Chinese Prose" sounds very interesting. Is it referenced? Can you look up a word or phrase in the index?

I understand that a dictionary doesn't teach grammar. But, how could I possibly find out some of these things if they aren't in an indexed reference book somewhere? I don't want to have to ask a chinese speaker every single time I come across a new construction.

[Daan]

You might want to consider looking into a grammar book with a decent index, such as Claudia Ross's Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar. Look it up on Amazon and use the "Search inside this book"-button to read through the index and see if it's what you are looking for

[webmagnets]

I got that book that you mentioned. It is already helping me a lot. (Claudia Ross's Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar)

Wŏ huòdé nà nĭ tíjí de bĕn shū le. Yĭjīng hĕn bāngzhù wŏ.

Also, nciku.com now does what I was wishing it would start doing. Look here: http://blog.nciku.com/blog/en/?p=1059

p.s. - Could someone please correct the above chinese sentences?

Edited October 6, 2009 at 04:53 PM by webmagnets
forgot something.