Serial verb sentences (1): purpose and manner
From the lesson “What's your cell phone number?”
Structure
去 + Place + Verb (purpose) / 坐 + Vehicle + 去 + Place (manner)
连动句的谓语部分由两个或两个以上动词性短语构成。连动句有两种意义:(1)表示动作的目的;(2)表示动作的方式。 Chinese can put two verb phrases one after the other with no word like “to” or “by”. The order shows the meaning: (1) Purpose: go somewhere first, then what you do there: 我去超市买东西 (I go to the supermarket to buy things). (2) Manner: how you go comes first: 我们坐出租车去西安饭店 (We go to Xi'an Restaurant by taxi).
Examples
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我想去超市买东西。
Wǒ xiǎng qù chāoshì mǎi dōngxi.
I want to go to the supermarket to buy things.
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我们去西安饭店吃晚饭。
Wǒmen qù Xī'ān Fàndiàn chī wǎnfàn.
We go to Xi'an Restaurant to have dinner.
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她坐出租车去超市。
Tā zuò chūzūchē qù chāoshì.
She goes to the supermarket by taxi.