HSK 4 grammar · conjunction
无标记复句
无标记复句 — clauses joined by nothing but a comma
Pattern
no linking word
( ) can be left out · other words may come before, between and after
How it works
Chinese very often joins two clauses with no connective at all, leaving the link — sequence, cause, condition or contrast — to be inferred. Where English needs "and", "so" or "if", Chinese may supply nothing: 你不去，我也不去 is "if you're not going, I'm not going either". A connective can usually be added, but the bare version is the ordinary, lighter way to say it, and over-supplying 因为/所以 is a common learner tell.
Examples
你不去，我也不去。
Nǐ bú qù, wǒ yě bú qù.
If you're not going, I'm not going either.
雨太大，我们改天再来吧。
Yǔ tài dà, wǒmen gǎitiān zài lái ba.
The rain is too heavy — let's come another day.
他说完，转身就走了。
Tā shuō wán, zhuǎnshēn jiù zǒu le.
He finished speaking, turned, and left.
Related
See it in a story
In the app, 无标记复句 is underlined wherever it appears in the stories you read, and practised with sentences from them. Free.