UNIT TWENTY-FIVE Disyllabic prepositions
A Chinese disyllabic prepositions are distinct from their monosyllabic coverb cousins in two ways. First, these disyllabic prepositions may be used not only before nouns but also before verbs or clauses. Second, they are often placed at the beginning of the sentence rather than directly after the subject. These two distinctive features will be clearly illustrated by the examples below of the most common disyllabic prepositions. B wèile ‘in order to; so that’ expresses purpose and is usually followed by a verb phrase: / wèile bù chídào | ta hgn zfo jiù qh lái/qhchuáng le In order not to get there late, she got up very early. ( ) wèile mfi dào piányi de xìpiào | ta pái le yc (gè) xifoshí de duì In order to buy cheap theatre tickets, he queued for an hour. wèile also occurs in official statements to express formal objectives:
wèile jifnshfo shcyè rénshù | zhèngfj njlì bàn hfo jiàoyù In order to reduce the number of unemployed, the government strives to improve education. It is not normally used in casual, everyday situations and one does not usually say: * wèile mfi ddngxi wi jìn chéng qù (lit. In order to buy things/go shopping, I went into town.) * wèile zhfo wi ta lái sùshè (lit. In order to look for me, he came into the dormitory.)
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