Learn Hardcore Chinese: Zài xuéxiào lǐ, lǎoshī yě hěn guānxīn xuéshēng de xuǎnzé. - At school, the teacher also cares a lot about the students’ choices.

在学校里 literally: at school-inside, i.e. at (the place that is) inside the school.
You can also just say 在学校, which is very common and usually means the same thing in practice.

在学校里 is a bit more explicitly “within the school environment,” and can feel slightly more vivid or specific, but in many contexts 在学校 and 在学校里 are interchangeable.

What’s the difference between 在学校里 and 学校里 without 在?

在学校里 is a full prepositional phrase: at school.
学校里 by itself is just a noun phrase: inside the school / the inside of the school.

In actual sentences:

在学校里，老师也很关心学生的选择。
At school, teachers also really care about students’ choices.
学校里有很多学生。
There are many students in the school.

In the second sentence, the verb 有 already implies existence/location, so you don’t need 在: 学校里有… is normal.
But when you’re using the place as a setting or topic (like “At school, …”), you usually use 在学校(里), ….

Could we say 老师在学校里也很关心学生的选择 instead? Does the word order change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

老师在学校里也很关心学生的选择。

Both mean essentially the same thing. The difference is focus / topic:

在学校里，老师也很关心学生的选择。
Puts “at school” first as the topic. It’s like: As for at school, teachers also care...
老师在学校里也很关心学生的选择。
Starts directly with 老师 as the subject and then adds where they care about the students’ choices.

Both are perfectly natural; the original is a bit more “topic-comment” style, which is very common in Chinese.

What exactly does 也 do here? Is it like “also” or “too”? Why is it before 很?

也 (yě) means also / too / as well. It shows that this statement is in addition to something already mentioned or implied.

Word order:

也 is an adverb, and in Chinese, adverbs typically go before other adverbs like 很, and before the main verb/adjective.

Pattern here:

老师　也　很　关心　…
subject + also + very + care about …

You could think of it as:

Teachers *also really care about students’ choices.*

It might imply that parents, friends, or other people care too, and now we’re adding teachers to that list.

Does 很 here really mean “very”? Are the teachers “very” concerned, or is it just a grammar thing?

很 (hěn) literally means very, but in everyday Chinese it often works as a linking adverb before adjectives or stative verbs, and doesn’t always feel strongly emphatic.

In 很关心:

It can mean “care a lot” = very concerned / really care.
But it can also sound like a natural, neutral description: teachers care about students’ choices (without special stress on very).

If you say just 老师也关心学生的选择, it’s still correct, but it can feel a bit more bare or “statement-like,” sometimes slightly stronger or more abrupt.

So:

很关心 = (naturally) care / really care
Whether you translate 很 as “very” depends on context and style. Often, English will just say “care” or “really care”.

Is 关心 an adjective (like “caring”) or a verb (like “care about”)?

关心 (guānxīn) is primarily a verb meaning to care about / be concerned about.

In this sentence:

老师也很关心学生的选择。
literally: Teachers also very-care-about students’ choices.

But many Chinese “adjectives” are actually stative verbs (verbs that express a state). They can behave like adjectives in English. So:

You can treat 关心 as “to care (about)” (verb)
Or as “caring / concerned” (adjective-like), depending on how you translate.

Either way, grammatically in Chinese it acts verb-like and can take an object:

关心学生的选择 = care about students’ choices.

What does 的 do in 学生的选择?

的 (de) here is a possessive / attributive marker.

学生的选择 = students’ choices or the students’ choice

Structure:

学生 (students) + 的 (’s) + 选择 (choice/choices)

So 的 links a modifier to the noun it describes. Here, it links 学生 (what kind of choice? whose choice?) to 选择.

Why is it 学生的选择 and not 学生选择? Can we drop 的 here?

In this case, you should keep 的:

学生的选择 (correct)
学生选择 (feels off or means something else)

学生选择 could be interpreted as a verb phrase: students choose (学生 + 选择 as a verb), not “students’ choices.”

When one noun clearly “owns” or is closely associated with another noun (student → choice), you generally use 的 to mark that relationship:

老师的书 – the teacher’s book
学生的选择 – the students’ choice/choices

Why don’t we say 学生们的选择 to show “students” (plural)?

Chinese usually doesn’t mark plural on common nouns like English does.

学生 can mean student or students depending on context.

们 is mainly used for:

Personal pronouns
- 我们 (we), 你们 (you plural), 他们 (they)
Human nouns when you really want to emphasize a group, especially in spoken or emotional language:
- 孩子们 (the children), 同学们 (classmates, as a form of address)

学生们的选择 is possible, but it slightly emphasizes “the group of students” more strongly. In a neutral statement like this, 学生的选择 is more natural and already understood as plural if the context suggests it.

How is 选择 different from words like 决定? Both can be “choice/decision,” right?

Yes, both relate to choosing/deciding, but they’re used differently:

选择 (xuǎnzé)
- noun: choice, option, selection
  - 你的选择 – your choice
- verb: to choose / to select
  - 你可以选择这门课。– You can choose this course.
决定 (juédìng)
- noun: decision
  - 这是我的决定。– This is my decision.
- verb: to decide (on something)
  - 我决定出国。– I decided to go abroad.

In 学生的选择, the focus is on the options they pick (what they choose: subjects, careers, etc.), not the act of formally deciding.
If you said 学生的决定, you’d be stressing their decisions (the final concrete decisions).

There is no word like “is/are” in this sentence. How do we know the tense? Is it present, past, or future?

Chinese usually doesn’t use a verb like “to be” in front of adjectives or stative verbs, and it often leaves tense to be understood from context.

老师也很关心学生的选择。
Can be translated as:
- Teachers also care about students’ choices. (present, general)
- Teachers also cared about students’ choices. (past, in context)
- Teachers will also care about students’ choices. (future, if context makes that clear)

If you want to mark time more clearly, you add time words or particles:

以前，老师也很关心学生的选择。
In the past, teachers also cared about students’ choices.
将来，老师也会很关心学生的选择。
In the future, teachers will also really care about students’ choices.

So tense is mostly from context + time words, not from verb changes.

Could 里 in 在学校里 be replaced by 中 or 里面? Are these interchangeable?

Sometimes, yes, but they’re not always identical in feeling.

在学校里 – at/in school (very common, natural)
在学校中 – also correct; sounds a bit more formal / written
在学校里面 – literally “inside the inside of the school”; more colloquial/emphatic, often used when emphasizing being inside the physical space.

Here, 在学校里 is the most natural, neutral choice.
在学校中 might show up in essays, articles, speeches.
在学校里面 you might say in spoken Mandarin if you want to stress “inside the building / on campus.”

Can 关心 be used by itself, or do you always say 关心 + something?

关心 normally takes an object (what or who you care about):

关心学生 – care about students
关心你的健康 – care about your health
关心社会问题 – care about social issues

In some contexts, you might see just 关心 if the object is obvious or previously mentioned:

父母对我很关心。
My parents care a lot about me. (Object “me” is implied)

But in your sentence, the object is explicitly stated: 学生的选择.

Is there any difference in meaning between 关心学生的选择 and 为学生的选择着想 or 在乎学生的选择?

They’re related but have different nuances:

关心学生的选择 – care about students’ choices / be concerned about them.
Neutral, positive: teachers pay attention to and care about what students choose.
为学生的选择着想 – literally: think on behalf of students’ choices / think for their sake regarding their choices.
Emphasizes considering students’ interests when it comes to their choices.
在乎学生的选择 – care about / mind students’ choices.
在乎 can sometimes imply emotional investment or that it matters a lot to you (and can be used in negative sentences: 不在乎 = don’t care).

Your sentence uses 关心, which is a very common, neutral-positive way to say teachers care about something related to students.

If I want to say “At home, parents also really care about students’ choices,” how would I change the sentence?

You can mirror the structure:

在家里，父母也很关心学生的选择。
- 在家里 – at home
- 父母 – parents

Or, if you want to say “their children’s choices” instead of “students’ choices”:

在家里，父母也很关心孩子的选择。
At home, parents also really care about their children’s choices.