动词和谓语
Verbs and the predicate

第一级你说“我是学生”，第二级你说“我吃饭”，第四级你说“他昨天去了北京”，第五级你说“我看见他了”。这几个句子长短不一样，可是结构完全一样：先说谁，再说这个人怎么样。“是、吃、去、看见”就是后半句的中心。还有一件事你早就照做了：不管是我、是你、是他们，不管是昨天还是明天，“去”永远是“去”，一个字也不变。

You have been saying 我是学生 since level 1, 我吃饭 since level 2, 他昨天去了北京 since level 4, 我看见他了 since level 5. The sentences differ in length but not in shape: first say who, then say what about them. 是, 吃, 去, 看见 are the heart of that second part. And one more thing you have done all along without being told — whether the subject is 我, 你 or 他们, whether the time is yesterday or tomorrow, 去 stays 去, unchanged to the last stroke.

第九级你已经学过主语和宾语。谓语比它们大：它不是一个词，常常是一串词。找谓语的办法很简单——先找出句子在说谁，剩下的全是谓语。

You met 主语 and 宾语 in level 9. The 谓语 is bigger than either: it is rarely one word and usually a whole string of them. The test is easy — find who the sentence is about, and everything left over is the predicate.

谓语里边可以有时间词、副词、宾语、补语，可是只有一个中心。把别的成分一层一层拿掉，最后剩下的那个词就是动词。第十级后面的课，讲的全是这个中心怎么带别的成分。

A predicate may hold time words, adverbs, objects and complements, but it has exactly one head. Peel the other parts away one layer at a time and the word left standing is the verb. Everything else in level 10 is about what that head can carry.

那么时候靠什么说清楚？靠时间词：昨天、明天、去年、以后。事情进行到哪一步，靠“了、过、着、在”这几个记号。要记住：它们说的不是时间，是事情的样子——“明天我吃了饭就去”里边有“了”，说的却是明天。这几个记号叫什么、怎么分工，本级第六课到第十课再细讲。

So how does a sentence fix the time? With time words — 昨天, 明天, 去年, 以后. How far along the event is comes from the markers 了, 过, 着, 在. Hold on to this: those markers report the shape of the event, not the clock. 明天我吃了饭就去 carries 了 and is about tomorrow. Lessons 6 to 10 of this level name them properly.

所以“喜欢、知道、有、是”都是动词，虽然它们一点动作也没有。分清这两类有用：状态动词后边一般不加“着”，也很少说“正在知道”，动作动词就没有这个限制。下一课接着分：哪些动词后边能带宾语，哪些不能。

So 喜欢, 知道, 有 and 是 are verbs, for all that there is no action in any of them. The cut earns its keep: state verbs normally refuse 着 and nobody says 正在知道, while action verbs take both freely. The next lesson makes the next cut — which verbs can be followed by an object, and which cannot.