Jieci Jieci
Although Chinese grammarians treat 用 yòng as a verb, it is in some ways a kind of half-way house between verbs and prepositions.
Chinese has a class of words very similar to 'prepositions', known as 介词 jiècí, which are evolved from verbs. It includes words like:
As a verb |
As a preposition |
||
| 在 zài | 'to exist' | 在 zài | 'at' |
| 離 / 离 lí | 'to move away' | 離 / 离 lí | '(distance) from' |
| 到 dào | 'to arrive' | 到 dào | 'to' |
| 跟 gēn | 'to accompany' | 跟 gēn | 'with (accompanying)' |
| 从 cóng | 'to follow' | 从 cóng | 'from' |
Many of these can still function as full verbs. And just like 'with the heart', such prepositional phrases precede the main verb or adjective.
As a verb |
As a preposition |
||
| 我在北京 wǒ zài Běijīng |
'I'm in Beijing' | 我在北京吃饭 wǒ zài Běijīng chī fàn |
'I'm eating in Beijing' |
| -- | (Not used as a full verb in modern Chinese) | 我离北京很远 wǒ lí Běijīng hěn yuǎn |
'I'm far from Beijing' |
| 我到北京了 wǒ dào Běijīng le |
'I've arrived in Beijing' | 我到北京来了 wǒ dào Běijīng lái le |
'I've come to Beijing' |
| 我跟着他 wǒ gēn-zhe tā |
'I'm accompanying him' | 我跟他一起来了 wǒ gēn tā yīqǐ lái le |
'I came with him' |
| -- | (Not used as a full verb in modern Chinese) | 我从北京来了 wǒ cóng Běijīng lái le |
'I've come from Beijing' |
As we can see, some of these words have lost the ability to function as full verbs, which means that their nature as 介词 jiècí is quite clear cut.
There are other words which, like 用 yòng, still have a strongly verbal nature but are moving in the direction of becoming 介词 jiècí. For example, the word 拿 ná 'to hold', in colloquial Chinese is used just like a 介词 jiècí.
| 我拿着锤子 wǒ ná-zhe chuízi |
'I'm holding a hammer' | 我拿锤子打钉子 wǒ ná chúizi dǎ dīngzi |
'I hit a nail with a hammer' |