Common Chinese conjunctions

A quick way to improve the quality of your writing and speaking is to learn conjunctions and linking phrases that add interest and variety. Using these phrases in exams will often gain you extra marks.

Below is a small sample of useful Mandarin phrases to get you started. If you use flashcards for sentence and grammar practice, add these structures and examples to your deck to improve your fluency.

也 - also

Wǒ shì yī shēng, tāyě shì yī shēng.

我是医生，她也是医生。

I am a doctor; she is also a doctor.

Simple but effective. If you've got two similar verbal phrases in a row, use 也 to make it a bit more interesting.

而且 - and what's more

Tā huì shuō pǔ tōng huà, ér qiě kàn de dǒng gǔ dài hàn yǔ.

他会说普通话，而且看得懂古代汉语。

He can speak Mandarin, and what's more he can read Literary Chinese.

Another simple one. Add extra, more interesting information to a description with 而且 - and what's more.

再说 - furthermore

Wǒ méi yǒu tā nà me cōng míng, zài shuō tā xué xí de bǐ wǒ nǔ lì.

我没有她那么聪明，再说她学习得比我努力。

I am not as intelligent as her; furthermore, she studies harder than I do.

Pretty much essential in developing arguments. Using 再说 makes it easy to give more weight to your point.

因为 …  所以 … - because, so

Yīn wèi wǒ méi yǒu qián, wǒ bù néng gēn nǐ qù diàn yǐng yuàn kàn diàn yǐng.

因为我没有钱，我不能跟你去电影院看电影。

Because I don't have any money, I can't go to the cinema with you to see a film.

虽然 ...  但是 ... - although

Suī rán wǒ mèi mei hěn fán rén, dàn shì wǒ hái xǐ huan tā.

虽然我妹妹很烦人，但是我还喜欢她。

Although my little sister is annoying, I'm still fond of her.

This structure takes very little time to learn but can be used frequently to great effect.

除了 … 以外 - apart from

Chú le xīng qī sān yǐ wài, wǒ men měi tiān zǎo shàng jiǔ diǎn shàng kè.

除了星期三以外，我们每天早上九点上课。

Apart from Wednesdays, we start class at 9am every day.

Easy to learn, useful to know. To say apart from [something] use 除了 [something] 以外.

一方面 …  另一方面 … - on one hand, on the other hand

Yí fāng miàn hē jiǔ hěn hǎo wánr, lìng yí fāng miàn hē jiǔ duì shēn tǐ bù hǎo.

一方面喝酒很好玩儿，另一方面喝酒对身体不好。

On one hand, drinking is very fun; on the other hand, it's bad for your health.

Always handy in forming arguments and including extra material.