wǎnshang wǒmen bú kàn diànshì, zhǐ tīng yīnyuè.

A very common Mandarin pattern is:

time + subject + negation/adverb + verb + object

So here you get:

• 晚上 = time
• 我们 = subject
• 不看电视 = do not watch TV
• 只听音乐 = only listen to music

Chinese word order is often more fixed than English, so putting the time word near the beginning is very natural.

晚上 is a time word, and in Mandarin, time words often come before the subject or right after it.

So both of these are natural:

• 晚上我们不看电视，只听音乐。
• 我们晚上不看电视，只听音乐。

Putting 晚上 first gives the sentence a clear time frame right away.

No. Chinese usually does not need a preposition like in before a time word in a sentence like this.

English says in the evening or at night, but Mandarin can simply say:

• 晚上 = in the evening / at night

So 晚上我们... is completely normal.

By itself, 晚上 can mean either, depending on context.

It can refer to:

• this evening / tonight
• evenings in general

If the broader conversation makes the time specific, listeners will understand it that way. Chinese often leaves this kind of distinction to context unless you add something more specific, such as:

• 今天晚上 = tonight
• 每天晚上 = every evening

This is because of a tone change rule called tone sandhi.

Normally, 不 is fourth tone: bù.
But when 不 comes before another fourth-tone syllable, it changes to second tone: bú.

Here:

• 看 = kàn (fourth tone)

So:

• 不看 is pronounced bú kàn

This change is only in pronunciation. The character is still written 不.

只 means only, and in this sentence it modifies the action 听音乐.

So the structure is:

• 只听音乐 = only listen to music

In Mandarin, words like 只 usually go before the verb they modify.

That is why you do not say 听只音乐 here.

Both can be translated with only, but they are not exactly the same.

• 只听音乐 = only listen to music
• 只是听音乐 = are merely/just listening to music

In this sentence, 只听音乐 is the more direct and natural contrast with 不看电视.

The pattern 不...，只... is very common for saying not A, only B.

Mandarin uses different verbs depending on the activity:

• 看电视 = watch TV
• 听音乐 = listen to music

This is similar to English, where you also do not usually say listen to TV or watch music.

A useful thing to remember is:

• 看 is often used for things you watch or read
• 听 is used for things you hear or listen to

Because 是 is not a general-purpose verb like English to be in every sentence.

Here, the main actions are:

• 看 = watch
• 听 = listen

So you just use those verbs directly.

Mandarin does not need 是 before ordinary action verbs.
You would not say 我们不是看电视 here unless you were making a different kind of emphasis or correction.

The comma marks a pause and shows a contrast:

• 不看电视， 只听音乐

It helps the reader hear the structure not A, only B.

Chinese punctuation is used a lot to make sentence structure clear, especially when two parts are being contrasted.

Sometimes yes, if the subject is already clear from context.

For example, in conversation, someone might simply say:

• 晚上不看电视，只听音乐。

This can sound natural if everyone already knows who is being talked about.

But including 我们 makes the sentence clearer and more complete, especially for learners or in standalone sentences.

It could be either. Mandarin often does not mark that difference as clearly as English does.

This sentence could mean:

• what we are doing on a particular evening
• what we usually do in the evenings

If you want to make it clearly habitual, you can add something like:

• 每天晚上 = every evening

If you want to make it clearly about tonight, you can say:

• 今天晚上 = tonight