Sentence Structure

I hope someone can help me. Example In lesson 1.2 Learning Chinese, Dave says "Excuse me, a little bit more slowly please?" The pinyin for this, puts "please" for example, just after "I'm sorry/Excuse me" rather than at the end as written in the translation. So my question is, does it really matter? Also, could I get away with directly translating the English as: "dui bu qu, man yi dianr qing ma?" Thanks John

My understanding is that "qing" usually comes first (though in this particular case there is a "dui bu qu" correctly just before it). The word order of the English has very little to do with the word order in Chinese. English may well put "please" last. It could also put it first. Chinese is more rigid, and "qing" goes __before__ whatever it is you're asking the person to do. But don't take my word for it. I'm a near beginner.

Hi there, yes, it is right the word order in English can be quite different to the word order in Chinese. You will see that after a while the Chinese word order will become second nature to you and it won't seem hard at all. "qing" (please) has to be out right in from of the action word (verb). I hope that helps. All the best for your Chinese learning.

Hi, um i know this isnt really a grammer question but Barry i hope you read this!! i dont know exactly wat u sed to me in the "everything chinese" topic section so i was wondering if u could tell me here n english :] "Huanying dao Forum. Zhu Ni yong Pinyin changchang."

Hi there, I think what Barry meant is "xiwang ni chang chang yong pinyin", which means "I hope you use pinyin often.". The first part means "Welcome to the forum". I hope that helps. ;)

I have been away from the forum for awhile but just here to say thanks for everyones' help! Having studied daily now it makes more sense and has become second nature where to put "please".

The Chinese word "qǐng" can never be used at the end of the sentences, as in your sample sentence. When used to politely ask somebody to do something, "qǐng" should always be used at the beginning of the sentence, in front of the action word (the action that the speaker asks the listener to do). For example; "qǐng ZUò" means "please have a seat" "qǐng jìn" means "please come in"