Some Mandarin sentences are made up of matching phrases, which are used to show cause and effect, contrast, or the order of events. Unlike English, Mandarin split phrases always follow a set pattern which usually follows the sequence of events.

English allows for variation in the sentence structure. For example, in English we can say:

Even though her singing was bad, the audience liked her.
or
The audience liked her, even though her singing was bad.

But in Mandarin, there is only one way to construct this sentence:

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Suirán ta chàng dé bùhao, dànshì guanzhòng hen xihuan.
Even though her singing was bad, the audience liked her.

In other words, the phrase beginning with ??/?? (suirán) must precede the phrase which begins with ?? (dànshì).

Connecting Words

There are several pairs of these connecting words, including:

• ?? ... ?? / ?? ... ?? (suirán ... keshì - although ... but)
• ?? ... ?? / ?? ... ?? (yinwei ... suoyi - because ... therefore)
• ?? ... ? (yàoshì ... jiù - if ...then)

Although the order of the connected phrases is fixed, the connecting words themselves can be omitted. Either or both connecting words can be left out, depending on the context and the speaker's preference.

Here, for example, are variations on the same sentence:

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????????????｡
Ta suirán hen jiao xiao, dànshì lìqi hen dà.
Although she is very small, she is strong.

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Ta hen jiao xiao, dànshì lìqi hen dà.

????????｡
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Ta hen jiao xiao, lìqi hen dà.

Note that in the examples above, ?? (keshì) could be used in place of ?? (dànshì), since they both mean but.

Split Sentences Examples

Here are some more examples of split sentences:

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Yinwei ta shengbìng suoyi méiyou lái shàngxué.
Because she is sick, she didn’t come to school.

????????????
Yàoshì ni bù qù Táibei wo yebù qù.
If you dont go to Taipei, I wont either.