wǒ xiǎng pāi zhàopiàn.

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Breakdown of wǒ xiǎng pāi zhàopiàn.

• 想xiǎng: to want to
• 照片zhàopiàn: photo
• 拍pāi: to take (a photo)

Questions & Answers about wǒ xiǎng pāi zhàopiàn.

Does 想 mean think or want here?

Here, 想 (xiǎng) means want to.

想 can mean different things depending on context:

• 我想你。 = I miss you / I’m thinking about you.
• 我想一个问题。 = I’m thinking about a question.
• 我想拍照片。 = I want to take photos.

When 想 is followed by another verb, it often means would like to / want to.

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Why is there no word for to between 想 and 拍?

In Mandarin, you usually do not need a separate word for to in structures like want to do something.

So:

• 我想拍照片
• literally: I want take photos
• natural English: I want to take photos

The pattern is:

• Subject + 想 + Verb + Object

Examples:

• 我想吃饭。 = I want to eat.
• 他想学中文。 = He wants to study Chinese.

So the to is built into the structure, not translated as a separate word.

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Why is 拍 used for taking photos?