Learn Hardcore Chinese: Zǎoshang tā xǐhuan xiān chī yìdiǎnr shuǐguǒ, zài hē niúnǎi. - In the morning she likes to eat a little fruit first and then drink milk.

早上 on its own can function as a time phrase meaning “in the morning”.
It’s very common to put a time word at the start of the sentence as the time setting/topic:
- 早上她喜欢… = In the morning, she likes…

You can say 在早上, but:

在早上，她喜欢… (with a pause/comma) is acceptable but sounds more formal or written.
In everyday speech, 早上她喜欢… or 她早上喜欢… is more natural.

Can I move 早上 to another position, like 她早上喜欢先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶? Is that still correct?

Yes, it’s correct, and it’s very natural.

Both of these are fine:

早上，她喜欢先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
她早上喜欢先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。

Differences:

早上，她喜欢… puts “morning” as the main topic first: As for the morning, she likes…
她早上喜欢… follows the common Subject + Time + Verb pattern: She, in the morning, likes…

Meaning is essentially the same; the difference is just in emphasis and rhythm.

What exactly does the pattern 先…再… mean, and where do these words go?

先…再… is a very common pattern meaning “first… then…” (showing sequence of actions).

先 (xiān) = first, beforehand
再 (zài) = then, afterward (here, not “again”)

Placement:

They go right before the verbs they modify:
- 先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
  = first eat a little fruit, then drink milk.

Structure of the whole sentence:

早上｜她｜喜欢｜先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
Time | Subject | Verb “like” | First action | Second action

Why is it 喜欢先吃… and not 先喜欢吃…?

In this sentence:

喜欢 is the main verb: to like / to enjoy
先 is describing when she eats, not when she likes.

So the structure is:

她喜欢 [先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶]。
She likes [to first eat a little fruit, then drink milk].

If you said 先喜欢吃…, it would literally mean “first like to eat…”, which doesn’t fit the intended meaning. You want “she likes to first eat…”, so:

喜欢先吃… = correct
先喜欢吃… = sounds wrong/unnatural here

What does 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) do in 吃一点儿水果? Why isn’t there a measure word like 个 between it and 水果?

一点儿 is a quantity word meaning “a little / a small amount”.

吃一点儿水果 = eat a little fruit / eat some fruit

Here 水果 (fruit) is treated like a mass noun, not as countable individual pieces, so it doesn’t need a measure word:

一点儿 + mass/generic noun is fine:
- 一点儿水果 – a little fruit
- 一点儿水 – a little water
- 一点儿米 – a little rice

If you want to talk about individual fruits, you’d normally use a measure word:

一个苹果 – one apple
几个水果 – several fruits
一些水果 – some fruit(s)

But 一点儿水果 focuses on amount (a small amount), not counting pieces.

What’s the difference between 一点 (yìdiǎn) and 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr)?

Main points:

Meaning
- Both can mean “a little / a bit”.
- In northern Mandarin, especially in Beijing, 一点儿 is more common in speech with nouns.
- In many contexts they’re interchangeable.
Typical uses
- With adjectives/verbs, you usually see 一点 (no 儿):
  - 冷一点 = a bit colder
  - 说慢一点 = speak a bit more slowly
- With nouns, both appear:
  - 一点水 / 一点儿水 – a little water
  - 一点水果 / 一点儿水果 – a little fruit
Accent/region
- 儿 is part of 儿化, a feature more common in the north.
- In many regions, people will naturally say 一点, without 儿.

So for 吃一点儿水果, you could also hear 吃一点水果 with the same meaning.

Why isn’t there a 的 after 喜欢, like 喜欢的吃 or something similar?

的 is not used between 喜欢 and the verb it takes as its object.

Correct pattern:

喜欢 + [verb phrase]
- 喜欢吃水果 – like to eat fruit
- 喜欢看书 – like reading / to read books
- 喜欢先吃一点儿水果 – like to first eat a little fruit

You add 的 when you turn a verb phrase into a noun phrase:

喜欢吃水果的人 – the people who like to eat fruit
她喜欢的东西 – the things she likes

So:

喜欢吃… = correct
喜欢的吃… = wrong in this meaning

Could I drop 她 and just say 早上喜欢先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶?

Grammatically, yes, you can drop 她, and Chinese often omits the subject when it’s clear from context.

早上喜欢先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
= In the morning, (she/I/you/they) like to first eat a little fruit, then drink milk.

But:

Without previous context, the listener doesn’t know who likes this.
In a stand‑alone example sentence or when first introducing the person, you should keep 她.

So in teaching/example contexts, 早上她喜欢… is clearer.

How do I know this is talking about a habit (what she usually does) and not just one specific morning?

Chinese doesn’t mark tense (past/present/future) the same way English does. You infer it from:

Time words and verbs
- 早上
  - 喜欢 naturally suggest a general habit or preference:
    - In the morning, she likes to… = this is usually what she does.
No aspect markers like 了
- For a single completed event, you’d more often see something like:
  - 今天早上，她先吃了一点儿水果，再喝了牛奶。
    This morning, she first ate a little fruit, then drank milk.

Because the original has 喜欢 (a state/preference verb) and no 了, the default reading is habitual.

Why is there a comma between 吃一点儿水果 and 喝牛奶, instead of using 和 to mean “and”?

The comma here simply separates two actions in sequence:

先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
first eat a little fruit, then drink milk.

We don’t use 和 between these verbs because:

和 usually connects nouns or parallel items:
- 苹果和香蕉 – apples and bananas
- 他和她 – he and she
For actions in order, Chinese prefers patterns like:
- 先…再…
- 先…然后…

So the comma just reflects a natural pause; the real “and then” meaning is carried by 再, not by 和.

In 一点儿水果, is 水果 being treated like an uncountable noun? Why isn’t there a plural form like “fruits”?

Yes, it’s being treated like a mass noun.

Key points:

Chinese nouns generally don’t change form for plural.
- 水果 can mean fruit or fruits, depending on context.
一点儿水果 = a little fruit / some fruit (an unspecified small amount)
No plural ending is needed.

If you want to be more obviously plural or emphasize several kinds/pieces, you can say:

一些水果 – some fruit(s)
几种水果 – several kinds of fruit
几个水果 – a few pieces of fruit

But the basic sentence is just talking about a small amount of fruit, not counting how many pieces.

What’s the difference between 再 and 然后 in a sentence like this? Could I say 先吃一点儿水果，然后喝牛奶?

Yes, you can say:

早上她喜欢先吃一点儿水果，然后喝牛奶。

Both are common. Differences:

先…再…
- Very compact, very common in speech.
- Emphasizes first do A, then do B.
先…然后…
- Slightly more explicit; 然后 is closer to “after that / and then”.
- Also very common, especially in narratives.

In this kind of everyday sentence, 再 and 然后 are often interchangeable, and both sound natural:

先吃一点儿水果，再喝牛奶。
先吃一点儿水果，然后喝牛奶。

Learner-friendly takeaway: you can treat 再 ≈ “then” here, and 然后 ≈ “and then / after that”.

Why is 一点儿 pronounced yìdiǎnr and not yīdiǎnr? What’s happening with the tone on 一?

This is due to tone sandhi for 一 (yī).

General rule for 一:

Before a 4th‑tone syllable → 2nd tone (yí)
- 一个 (yí ge)
Before 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tone → 4th tone (yì)
- 一点 (yìdiǎn) – diǎn is 3rd tone
- 一年 (yìnián) – nián is 2nd tone
- 一杯 (yìbēi) – bēi is 1st tone

So in 一点儿:

点 (diǎn) is 3rd tone
Therefore 一 changes to 4th tone: yì → yìdiǎnr

That’s why it’s pronounced yìdiǎnr, not yīdiǎnr.