Helping Verbs (Prepositions in English) Gēn

Helping Verbs (Prepositions in English)

Gēn 跟 by itself means “to follow,” but as a helping verb, besides meaning “and”, most frequently gēn 跟 means “with”

to speak with/to someone
gēn . . . shuōhuà
跟 . . . 说话

to chat with someone
gēn . . . tántán
跟 . . . 谈谈

to discuss with someone
gēn . . . tǎolùn
跟 . . . 讨论
OR:
gēn . . . shāngliang
跟 . . . 商量

to argue with someone
gēn . . . zhēnglùn
跟 . . . 争论

to quarrel with someone
gēn . . . chǎojià
跟 . . . 吵架

to have connections with someone
gēn . . . yǒu guānxi
跟 . . . 有关系

BUT:
to be angry with someone shēng (someone) de qì 生 . . . 的气

I’m angry with my friend.
Wǒ shēng wǒ péngyou de qì.
我生我朋友的气。

I agree with you.
✔ CC: Wǒ tóngyì nǐde yìjian.
我同意你的意见。
✔ CC: Wǒ tóngyì!
我同意。

✖ BC: Wǒ gēn nǐ tóngyì.
我跟你同意。

AND: Gēn 跟 is used in many expressions where there is NO preposition in English:

to marry someone
gēn . . . jiéhūn
跟 . . . 结婚

Who is she marrying?
Tā gēn shéi jiéhūn?
她跟谁结婚?

Literally: With whom is she marrying?

to divorce someone
gēn . . . líhūn
跟 . . . 离婚

She divorced him last year.
Tā qùnián gēn tā líhūn le.
她去年跟他离婚了。

Literally: She with him divorced . . . to greet someone

gēn . . . dǎ zhāohu
跟 . . . 打招呼

That old gentleman just greeted me.
Nèiwèi lǎo xiānsheng gānggāng gēn wǒ dǎle zhāohu.
那位老先生刚刚跟我打了招呼。