Breakdown of zhōumò wǒ chángcháng gěi gēge hé mèimei dǎ diànhuà.
Questions & Answers about zhōumò wǒ chángcháng gěi gēge hé mèimei dǎ diànhuà.
In Chinese, it’s very common to put a time word at the beginning of the sentence:
- 周末，我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
- literally: Weekend, I often to older brother and younger sister make phone call.
This is a typical time–subject–adverb–verb pattern.
You can also say:
- 我周末常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
Both are correct and natural.
The version with 周末 first puts a bit more emphasis on “on weekends” as the overall time setting.
In this sentence, 给 is not really “to give” as a main verb. It works more like a preposition meaning “to / for”:
- 给哥哥和妹妹打电话
= make a phone call *to my older brother and younger sister.*
So the structure is:
给 + person + 打电话 → “call (phone) someone”
You’re not literally “giving” a phone; you’re “calling” them.
打电话 is a set phrase:
- 打: here means “to make / to dial / to do (a phone call)”
- 电话: telephone
Together, 打电话 literally means “to make a telephone (call).”
You generally say:
- 给 + person + 打电话 = to call someone (on the phone)
You don’t normally use 电话 alone as a verb.
Chinese doesn’t repeat 给 the way English repeats to:
- English: I often call *my older brother and my younger sister.*
- Chinese: 给哥哥和妹妹打电话
The 给 in front of 哥哥和妹妹 covers both people in the list.
So 给哥哥和妹妹打电话 = “call (to) older brother and (to) younger sister.”
You could say 给哥哥和给妹妹打电话, but it sounds unnatural and overly wordy in normal speech.
In Chinese, family members are often understood as “my …” from context, so you don’t always need 我:
- 我给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
Usually understood as: I call *my older brother and my younger sister.*
If you say 给哥哥和妹妹打电话 without 我, and there is no other context, people will still usually assume you mean your own siblings.
You can say 我的哥哥, 我的妹妹, but it’s more formal or used when you specifically need to contrast or clarify whose brother/sister you mean.
Chinese usually does not mark plural on nouns, especially for close family terms like 哥哥, 妹妹:
- 哥哥 can mean “older brother” or “older brothers” depending on context.
- 妹妹 can mean “younger sister” or “younger sisters”.
The sentence just says 哥哥和妹妹; it could be one of each or more than one, but context will tell.
You don’t say 哥哥们和妹妹们 in normal conversation unless you really want to highlight plurality or talk about them as groups.
常常 means “often” and is an adverb of frequency. In this sentence:
- 周末 我 常常 给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
Typical positions for 常常:
- After the subject:
- 我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
- After the time expression, if there is one:
- 周末我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
- 周末，我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
Those are the most natural places.
You don’t normally put 常常 at the very end like English “I call my brother and sister often.”; in Chinese, adverbs like 常常 usually go before the verb phrase.
Yes, you can say:
- 周末我经常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
常常 and 经常 both mean “often / frequently.”
In modern spoken Chinese, they are very similar and often interchangeable.
Very subtle differences:
- 经常 can sound a bit more neutral or slightly more common in everyday speech.
- 常常 may sound slightly more literary or soft to some ears, but it’s still perfectly normal in conversation.
For learning purposes, you can treat them as synonyms here.
Yes, 打电话 by itself already functions as a verb phrase meaning “to (make a) phone call.”
- 打电话 – to call on the phone
- You don’t need to say 打一个电话 unless you want to stress “make a call (one call)” in contrast to doing something else or multiple calls.
In this general habit sentence (“I often call them on weekends”), 打电话 alone is natural and complete.
Yes, you can. Both are correct:
- 周末我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
- 周末我常常打电话给哥哥和妹妹。
The meaning is essentially the same: I often call my older brother and younger sister on weekends.
Subtle nuance:
- Pattern (1) 给 + person + 打电话 is slightly more common and “standard”.
- Pattern (2) 打电话给 + person is also used and natural, especially in Taiwan and in some styles.
For learners, it’s safe to prioritize pattern (1), but recognize that pattern (2) is also fine.
和 is a coordinating conjunction meaning “and.”
- 哥哥和妹妹 = “(my) older brother and (my) younger sister”
You can often replace 和 with 跟 when joining people:
- 哥哥跟妹妹
Both are acceptable here, with no major change in meaning.
Some speakers feel 跟 sounds a bit more colloquial, but both are very common.
Chinese allows both patterns:
- 给 + person + 打电话
- 打电话 + 给 + person
Both can mean: to call someone (on the phone).
Why use pattern (1) here?
- It’s a very standard, textbook-friendly pattern:
给 + person + Verb-Object
like: 给他写信 (write a letter to him), 给他们发邮件 (send them an email).
This makes 给哥哥和妹妹打电话 fit nicely into an existing, easy-to-learn structure.
Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does. There is no specific past/present/future marker in this sentence.
Meaning is inferred from:
- The context (e.g., are you talking about your current habit? past habit?)
- The time word: 周末 just says on weekends but not which weekends.
On its own, 周末我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话 is usually understood as a general present habit: I often call them on weekends.
To make it clearly past, you can add context or aspects like:
- 以前周末我常常给哥哥和妹妹打电话。
“In the past, I often called them on weekends.”