Questions & Answers about wǒ hé péngyou zhèngzài héchàng.
Why is there no word for my before 朋友?
In Chinese, 我和朋友 can naturally mean my friend and I even without saying 我的朋友.
That is because in many contexts, the relationship is understood from the sentence. If you say:
- 我和朋友...
listeners will usually understand it as I and my friend / my friends...
If you want to be more explicit, you can say:
- 我和我的朋友正在合唱。
That is also correct, but it is a little more specific and slightly less economical.
What does 和 mean here?
Here, 和 means and.
So:
- 我和朋友 = I and my friend / my friends
In other sentences, 和 can also behave a bit like with, depending on the structure, but in this sentence it is clearly joining two nouns, so and is the best way to understand it.
Common alternatives include:
- 我跟朋友正在合唱。
- 我和朋友正在合唱。
Both are natural.
Why is 正在 used before 合唱?