Conjunctions: 和/跟 and Parallel Clauses

Chinese grammar · HSK 1 · 连词 · By Carson 木林森

和 (hé) and 跟 (gēn) both mean 'and' when connecting nouns or pronouns.

和 — written/formal, connects nouns: 书和笔 (book and pen)
跟 — spoken, often used with people: 我跟你 (you and I)

Pattern: Noun1 + 和/跟 + Noun2

For parallel clauses (two actions), use comma or 也:
✅ 他学英语，也学汉语。(He studies English and also Chinese.)

Do NOT use 和 to connect two verb phrases:
❌ 我吃饭和喝茶。(unnatural)
✅ 我吃饭，也喝茶。

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
我和我的朋友去学校。	Wǒ hé wǒ de péng yǒu qù xué xiào.	My friend and I go to school.	和 connects two nouns (我 and 我的朋友)
桌子上有书和笔。	Zhuō zi shàng yǒu shū hé bǐ.	There are books and pens on the table.	和 connects two objects: 书 and 笔
我跟老师说了这件事。	Wǒ gēn lǎo shī shuō le zhè jiàn shì.	I told the teacher about this matter.	跟 used with people; also means 'with' as prepositional use

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Conjunctions across 12 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What this opens up

These patterns list Conjunctions among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.

The same pattern at other levels

Conjunctions — HSK 2

Conjunctions is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

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