Learn Hardcore Chinese: Tā bù kàn xīnwén, gèng xǐhuan kàn diànyǐng hé diànshì jiémù. - She doesn’t watch the news; she prefers watching movies and TV shows.

更 (gèng) literally means “more / even more”, but in this sentence it’s doing the job of “rather / instead / prefers (more)” compared to the previous thing.

Structure here:

她不看新闻，更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
= She doesn’t watch the news, and (instead) prefers watching movies and TV programs.

Key points:

Position: 更 comes before the verb or adjective it modifies.
- 更喜欢 = “like even more / prefer”
Even though English might say “rather likes watching …” or “prefers watching … instead”, Chinese just uses 更 + 喜欢.

So the pattern is:

A, 更喜欢 B
= (Not so much) A, (she) likes B more / prefers B.

Why do we say 更喜欢看电影和电视节目 and not just 更喜欢电影和电视节目?

You can sometimes say 更喜欢电影和电视节目, but here 更喜欢看电影和电视节目 is more natural because:

喜欢 + noun tends to mean you like that thing in general:
- 喜欢电影 = "like movies (as a thing, as a genre)"
喜欢 + verb means you like doing that activity:
- 喜欢看电影 = "like watching movies"

In context, the contrast is about what she does:

不看新闻 – she doesn’t watch the news
更喜欢看电影和电视节目 – she prefers to watch movies and TV programs

So we repeat 看 to keep the verbs parallel:

不看新闻
更喜欢看电影和电视节目

This “parallel” feeling makes the Chinese sound more natural and balanced.

Why is 不 (bù) used here instead of 没 (méi) to say “doesn’t watch the news”?

In this sentence, 不看新闻 describes a habit / general preference, not a specific past event:

不 is used for:
- habitual actions
- general truths
- future plans
- neutral or regular negation
没 is mostly used for:
- negating past actions (没看 = “did not watch”)
- negating 有: 没有 = “don’t have / there isn’t”

So:

她不看新闻
= She doesn’t (usually) watch the news / She doesn’t watch the news (as a habit).

If you say:

她没看新闻
= She didn’t watch the news (on some particular occasion / time).

The sentence we have is talking about her general habit and preference, so 不 is correct.

Why isn’t 她 repeated in the second part? Why not 她更喜欢看电影和电视节目?

In Chinese, once the subject is clear, it’s very common to omit it in later clauses, especially in short sentences like this.

Full form (also correct):
她不看新闻，她更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
Natural, with subject dropped in the second clause:
她不看新闻，更喜欢看电影和电视节目。

Because 她 is already the subject of the first clause, Chinese listeners will automatically understand that the second clause is still talking about the same person. Repeating 她 is possible but less necessary; omitting it sounds smooth and natural here.

The sentence has a comma. Could we use 但是 or 而是 instead, and what’s the difference?

The comma here shows a contrast, similar to a mild “but / instead” in English:

她不看新闻，更喜欢看电影和电视节目。

You could also say:

With 但是 (“but/however” – general contrast):
- 她不看新闻，但是更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
  This emphasizes the contrast a bit more explicitly, like:
  “She doesn’t watch the news, but she prefers watching movies and TV programs.”
With 而是 (“but rather / instead” – contrast between two choices):
- Usually you’d say:
  她不是喜欢看新闻，而是更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
  = It’s not that she likes watching the news; rather, she prefers watching movies and TV programs.

In our original sentence, using just a comma with 更喜欢 is enough to convey a soft “instead / rather” feeling, without adding any extra word like 但是.

Why is 看 (kàn) used for both 新闻 and 电影/电视节目? Can I use 看见 or another verb?

看 (kàn) is the standard verb for:

watching TV, movies, programs
reading books, newspapers, etc.
looking at things

In this sentence:

看新闻 = watch the news / read the news (depending on context)
看电影 = watch movies
看电视节目 = watch TV programs

看见 (kànjiàn) means “to see / to catch sight of”, as in physically seeing something, not “to watch (a program)” as an activity. So:

✔ 看电影 – correct
✘ 看见电影 – sounds like “happened to see a movie (appear)”, not “watch a movie” as an activity

So 看 is the right verb here.

Why is there no plural ending like “-s” on 电影 and 节目? How do we know if it’s “movie” or “movies”?

Chinese nouns usually don’t change form for singular vs. plural. 电影 can mean:

“a movie”
“movies” (in general)

Context tells you which is meant. Here:

看电影和电视节目
→ It’s about what she likes to watch in general, so in English we naturally translate it as “movies and TV programs” (plural).

If we need to be explicit, Chinese uses measure words:

一部电影 – one movie
很多电影 – many movies
几个电视节目 – several TV programs

But when talking about a general preference, just 电影 and 电视节目 without numbers or measure words is normal.

Why is it 电视节目 instead of just 电视? What’s the difference between 电视, 电视节目, and 电视剧?

These words are related but not the same:

电视 (diànshì)
1. The device: “a TV set”
2. The medium in general: “television”
  Example: 看电视 = watch TV (in general)
电视节目 (diànshì jiémù)
= TV programs / TV shows (specific content on TV)
Example: 我喜欢这个电视节目。 = I like this TV show.
电视剧 (diànshìjù)
= TV drama / TV series
Example: 她常常看韩国电视剧。 = She often watches Korean TV dramas.

In the sentence:

看电影和电视节目
emphasizes “movies and TV programs (shows)” as types of content she likes to watch.
If you said 看电影和电视, it would still be understandable, but 电视节目 is more specific and natural for “TV shows/programs.”

What’s the difference between 新闻 and 新闻节目? Does 看新闻 always mean “watch the TV news”?

新闻 (xīnwén) means “news” in general:

news on TV
news articles
news on the internet
news in a newspaper

So 看新闻 can mean:

“watch the news” (on TV)
“read the news” (on your phone / in a newspaper)

Context usually decides which English verb we choose.

新闻节目 (xīnwén jiémù) is more specific:

新闻节目 = “news program” (a specific show)

So:

她不看新闻
= She doesn’t follow the news / She doesn’t watch/read the news.
她不看新闻节目
= She doesn’t watch news programs (TV/radio shows) in particular.

In everyday conversation, 看新闻 commonly implies TV or online video news if you’re already talking about watching things.

Could we say 她也喜欢看电影和电视节目 instead of 更喜欢? What’s the difference between 也喜欢 and 更喜欢?

They are different:

也喜欢 = “also likes”
更喜欢 = “likes more / prefers”

In this sentence, she doesn’t watch the news, so “also likes” doesn’t fit:

她不看新闻，也喜欢看电影和电视节目。
This sounds odd, because “also” suggests she does something else in addition to the news, but we just said she doesn’t watch the news.

更喜欢 shows a preference / contrast with what comes before:

她不看新闻，更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
= She doesn’t watch the news; instead, she prefers watching movies and TV programs.

So 更 is the right choice to express “rather / prefers” here.

Why is 喜欢 written as xǐhuan and not xǐhuàn? Is 欢 in the neutral tone?

Yes. In modern spoken Mandarin, 喜欢 is usually pronounced:

xǐhuan (second syllable in neutral tone)

Technically, the character 欢 has the first tone huān by itself, but:

In this common word 喜欢, the second syllable is very often neutralized in everyday speech.
Dictionaries often mark it as xǐhuan (xǐ + neutral tone).

So if you say xǐhuan, you’re pronouncing it in the normal, natural way for modern Mandarin.

Is the overall word order here typical Chinese word order? Could anything be moved around?

Yes, the sentence follows very standard Chinese word order:

Subject + (adverb of negation) + Verb + Object ， Adverb + Verb + Object
她不看新闻，更 喜欢看 电影和电视节目。

Breaking it down:

她 – subject
不看 – negative verb phrase (“does not watch”)
新闻 – object 1
更喜欢看 – “(instead) prefers to watch”
电影和电视节目 – object 2

You cannot naturally move things like this:

✘ 她更喜欢不看新闻，看电影和电视节目。
This sounds very unnatural and confusing in Chinese.

The most natural patterns are like:

她不看新闻，更喜欢看电影和电视节目。
Or with a stronger contrast word:
她不看新闻，而是更喜欢看电影和电视节目。

So yes, the original order is standard and very idiomatic.