Learn Hardcore Chinese: zhōumò wǒmen bù xiǎng qù jùhuì, zhǐ xiǎng zài jiā xiūxi. - On weekends we don’t want to go to parties; we just want to rest at home.

周末，我们不想… (slightly more “topic-comment”: As for the weekend, we don’t want…)
我们周末不想… (a bit more like English “We don’t want … on the weekend.”)

Why is 不想 used instead of 不要 or 没想?

These three are quite different:

不想
- Means “don’t want to / don’t feel like (doing something)”.
- It’s about desire / intention.
- 我们不想去聚会 = We don’t want to go to the party.
不要
- Often means “don’t (do something)” (a command) or “don’t want (something)”.
- 不要去聚会 = Don’t go to the party. (a command)
- As a statement of desire, 不想 usually sounds more natural for “I don’t feel like…”.
没想
- Literally: “did not think / have not thought”.
- 我没想去聚会 sounds like I hadn’t thought about going to the party (or I didn’t intend to go, depending on context), not simply “I don’t feel like going.”

So in this sentence, we are talking about what we feel like doing, so 不想 is the natural choice.

Why is 想 repeated: 不想去聚会，只想在家休息? Could we omit the second 想?

The pattern here is:

A，不想 X，只想 Y。
= We don’t want X; we only want Y.

The repetition of 想 keeps the sentence balanced and clear:

不想去聚会，只想在家休息。

If you drop the second 想:

不想去聚会，只在家休息。

This is grammatical but sounds different: now it’s more like a description of what you do (you “just stay at home and rest”) rather than a contrast of desires (“don’t want A, only want B”). The original emphasizes preference more strongly.

So repeating 想 is very natural and idiomatic in this kind of contrast.

What exactly does 只 do here, and how is it different from 只有 or 只是?

In this sentence:

只想在家休息 = “(we) only want to rest at home.”

只 is an adverb meaning “only / merely / just”, and it modifies the verb 想.

Differences:

只
- Placed right before the verb or verb phrase it limits.
- 只想在家休息 = only want to rest at home.
只有
- Means “only have / there is only …” or “only if” (in conditional sentences).
- 我们只有周末有时间。 = We only have time on weekends.
- Not used the same way as 只想 here.
只是
- Often means “it’s just that / only / merely” introducing a comment or contrast.
- 我们不去聚会，只是想在家休息。
  = We’re not going to the party, it’s just that we want to rest at home.

So 只想在家休息 is simply “(we) only want to rest at home”, with 只 narrowing the scope of 想.

Why do we say 在家休息 and not 休息在家?

Chinese basic word order is:

(Place) + Verb + (Object)

So:

在家休息 = “(to) rest at home.”

在家 is a location phrase, and these usually go before the verb:

在学校学习 = study at school
在公司工作 = work at the company
在家休息 = rest at home

休息在家 is not natural in this context; it sounds odd or poetic at best. So you should remember:

Place phrase 在 + place comes before the main verb in ordinary sentences.

Could we say 在家里休息 instead of 在家休息? Is there a difference?

Yes, 在家里休息 is also correct.

在家休息 – very common, a bit shorter and more colloquial.
在家里休息 – emphasizes inside the home / within the house a bit more.

In practice, for everyday speech, 在家休息 is usually enough and sounds very natural. 家 already implies “home” as a place, so 里 is optional here.

Is 聚会 being used as a noun or a verb here? Why do we say 去聚会?

In 去聚会, 聚会 is used more like a verb, meaning “to get together / to have a gathering / to party”.

去 + [place]: 去学校, 去公司 (go to school, go to the company)
去 + [activity-verb]: 去游泳 (go swimming), 去唱歌 (go sing karaoke), 去聚会 (go to/for a party, go socialize)

聚会 can also be a noun:

有一个聚会 – there is a party/gathering
参加聚会 – attend a party/gathering

Here, 去聚会 is like “go (and) party / go to a gathering”, treating 聚会 as an activity you go do.

Why is there no 了 in this sentence? Could we say 我们不想去聚会了?

No 了 is needed because the sentence is expressing a general current preference or state, not a completed event.

周末我们不想去聚会，只想在家休息。
= This weekend (or on weekends), we don’t want to go to parties; we just want to rest at home.
→ Focus on what we (now) want / usually want, not on something that has already happened.

If you say:

我们不想去聚会了。

You add a nuance of change: We *no longer want to go to the party / *We don’t want to go anymore.
Here 了 marks a change of situation/attitude, not simple aspect completion.

So:

Without 了: neutral statement of preference.
With 了: suggests a change from wanting to not wanting.

Why is 我们 not repeated in the second clause? Could we also say 我们只想在家休息?

Chinese often omits repeated subjects if the subject is clear from context:

周末我们不想去聚会，只想在家休息。
= On the weekend we don’t want to go to the party; (we) only want to rest at home.

The subject 我们 is understood to continue into the second clause.

You can repeat it:

周末我们不想去聚会，我们只想在家休息。

This is also correct and clear, but slightly more explicit and sometimes more formal or emphatic. In casual, natural speech, dropping the second 我们 is very common.

How are 不想 and 只想 pronounced in fluent speech? Is there any tone change (tone sandhi)?

Yes, there is tone sandhi to be aware of:

不想
- 不 is normally 4th tone: bù.
- Rule: 不 changes to 2nd tone (bú) only when followed by another 4th-tone syllable (e.g. 不对 búduì).
- Here 想 is 3rd tone (xiǎng), so 不 stays 4th:
  - 不想 → bù xiǎng (4th + 3rd).
只想
- 只 is 3rd tone: zhǐ.
- 想 is 3rd tone: xiǎng.
- Rule: when two 3rd tones are next to each other, the first one becomes 2nd tone in actual pronunciation.
- So 只想 is pronounced zhí xiǎng (2nd + 3rd), even though both are written as 3rd tone.

Spoken:

不想 → bù xiǎng
只想 → zhí xiǎng

Why is there a comma (，) instead of a period between the two parts of the sentence?

Chinese punctuation allows commas to separate what would often be two sentences in English if they are closely connected parts of one idea.

周末我们不想去聚会，
只想在家休息。

These two clauses form a clear contrast (not A, only B), so they’re joined with a comma. This is very normal written style.

You could also write them as two separate sentences:

周末我们不想去聚会。只想在家休息。

This is possible, but the version with a comma feels smoother and more natural for a single combined thought: “We don’t want to go to the party; we just want to rest at home.”

Why is there no 在 before 周末? Can I say 在周末我们不想去聚会?

Time words in Chinese usually don’t need 在:

周末我们不想去聚会。
明天我去北京。
晚上他要加班。

Adding 在 before time expressions is generally unnecessary and often sounds unnatural in simple sentences like this.

在周末我们不想去聚会 is understandable but not the usual way to say it.

You can say:

周末的时候，我们不想去聚会。
(At the time of the weekend…) – also natural, a bit fuller.

But most of the time, just use the bare time word 周末 without 在.

Could we use 想要 instead of 想 here, like 我们不想要去聚会?

In this structure, you usually don’t say 想要 + verb.

想 + verb = want to do something
- 想去聚会 = want to go to the party
- 只想在家休息 = only want to rest at home

想要 is more often used:

As “want (to have) something”:
- 我想要一杯水。 = I want a glass of water.
Or sometimes with a verb, but it tends to sound stronger / more emphatic in desire, and is less common than plain 想 + verb in simple sentences like this.

我们不想要去聚会 sounds unnatural. In this context, the natural choice is:

我们不想去聚会，只想在家休息。