Learn Hardcore Chinese: Tā de shēngyīn hěn xiǎo, zài gōngyuán lǐ bù róngyì tīngqīngchu, bǐrú gāngcái wǒ jiù méi tīngdǒng. - Her voice is very soft, so in the park it’s not easy to hear clearly; for example, just now I didn’t understand her.

In many sentences with [subject] + 是 + noun or [subject] + 很 + adjective, the 很 is often just a “link” between the subject and the adjective, and doesn’t always strongly mean “very.”

她的声音很小
Literally: “Her voice very small.”
Natural meaning: “Her voice is quiet/soft.”

If you say 她的声音小, it can sound like a contrast or comparison, as if you’re saying “Her voice (in particular) is small/quiet (unlike someone else’s).” So native speakers usually add 很 to make it sound neutral and natural.

It can mean “very” if you stress it in speech or context makes it clear, but in this sentence it can also just be “is” without strong emphasis.

Why 声音很小 and not 声音很轻 or 她说话很小声?

All are possible, but they focus slightly differently:

声音很小
Focus: the volume of her voice is low. Very common and neutral.
声音很轻
轻 means “light/soft.”
This can suggest that her voice is soft or gentle, not just quiet. It can sound a bit more descriptive/subjective, sometimes a bit more positive.
她说话很小声
Literally: “She speaks in a very low voice.”
This focuses on how she speaks (her manner of speaking), not just what her voice is like in general.

In your sentence, 她的声音很小 simply describes her voice overall, which fits the context well.

Why do we say 在公园里 and not just 在公园? What does 里 add?

里 literally means “inside.”

在公园里 = “(inside) the park”
在公园 = “at/in the park”

For big places like 公园 (park), 学校 (school), 公司 (company), both versions are usually fine. Adding 里:

may sound a bit more vivid, like you’re really inside the area of the park,
sometimes feels a bit more natural in spoken Chinese, but 在公园 is also completely correct.

So here:

在公园里不容易听清楚
“In the park it’s not easy to hear clearly.”

You could also say 在公园不容易听清楚 without changing much meaning.

Can we move 在公园里 somewhere else, like 不容易在公园里听清楚?

The most natural pattern in Chinese is:

(Time / place) + [subject] + (adverb) + verb phrase

So:

✅ 在公园里不容易听清楚。 (Very natural) “In the park, it’s not easy to hear clearly.”

If you say:

⚠️ 不容易在公园里听清楚。

it’s not exactly wrong, but it sounds incomplete or awkward by itself. You would more naturally expand it, for example:

在公园里听清楚她说的话不容易。
“It’s not easy to hear clearly what she says in the park.”

So, in short: keep 在公园里 before 不容易 here; that’s the most natural word order.

What is the difference between 不容易 and 很难 in 在公园里不容易听清楚?

Both describe difficulty, but the nuance is a bit different:

不容易 = “not easy”
- Often sounds milder and more polite/neutral.
- Implies some effort is needed, but not necessarily extremely hard.
很难 = “very difficult”
- Stronger: suggests it’s really hard.
- Can feel more negative or emphatic.

So:

在公园里不容易听清楚。
“It’s not easy to hear clearly in the park.” (Some difficulty.)
在公园里很难听清楚。
“It’s really hard to hear clearly in the park.” (Quite difficult.)

The original sentence chooses the softer, more neutral 不容易.

What’s the difference between 听清楚, 听见 / 听到, and 听懂?

These verbs all use 听 (“to listen/hear”) with different result ideas:

听见 / 听到 – to hear (physically)
- You perceive the sound; you hear it, but not necessarily clearly or with understanding.
- Example:
  - 我听见有人叫我的名字。
    “I heard someone call my name.”
听清楚 – to hear clearly
- You hear it and it is clear (清楚); you can distinguish the words/sounds.
- Example:
  - 这里太吵了，我听不清楚。
    “It’s too noisy here; I can’t hear clearly.”
听懂 – to hear and understand
- You not only hear the sounds, you understand the meaning.
- Example:
  - 他说得太快了，我没听懂。
    “He spoke too fast; I didn’t understand (what I heard).”

In your sentence:

不容易听清楚 – it’s hard to hear clearly in the park.
我就没听懂 – as a result, I didn’t understand (what she said).

Why is 不容易听清楚 used instead of 听不清楚?

They’re related but not quite the same:

听不清楚
Describes an inability in that situation:
- “(I) can’t hear clearly.” (Result complement with 不.)
不容易听清楚
Describes the difficulty:
- “It’s not easy to hear clearly.” (Focuses on process/difficulty.)

Your sentence is talking about the general situation in the park:

在公园里不容易听清楚
“In the park, it’s not easy to hear clearly.”

If you said:

在公园里听不清楚。

it would sound more like a direct complaint: “In the park I can’t hear clearly.” That’s stronger and more absolute.

So 不容易听清楚 is a bit softer and more general.

What does 比如 do here? Could we also use 例如?

比如 introduces an example, just like “for example”:

比如刚才我就没听懂。
“For example, just now I didn’t understand (her).”

You can usually replace 比如 with 例如, but there are some stylistic differences:

比如 – more colloquial, common in spoken Chinese.
例如 – a bit more formal/written, used in essays, reports, etc.

In this conversational sentence, 比如 is more natural. Structurally, both can be followed by a specific example sentence.

What exactly does 刚才 mean? How long ago is “刚才”? And is 刚才我 vs 我刚才 different?

刚才 means “just now / a moment ago,” referring to a recent past—usually within the last few minutes, maybe up to an hour depending on context, but not long ago.

It cannot refer to the future.
It does not need a tense marker like English; the word itself implies past.

Word order:

刚才我就没听懂。
我刚才就没听懂。

Both are correct and almost the same in meaning. Slight nuance:

刚才我…: a little more focus on the time (“As for just now, I didn’t understand.”)
我刚才…: a little more focus on the person (“I, just now, didn’t understand.”)

For normal speech, you can treat them as interchangeable.

What is the function of 就 in 刚才我就没听懂?

Here 就 adds emphasis and a sense of “exactly / precisely / as a result.” It often appears when:

something happens right at a certain time, or
something happens (or fails to happen) as a direct result of the previous situation.

In this context:

在公园里不容易听清楚 – in the park it’s not easy to hear clearly.
比如刚才我就没听懂。 – “For example, just now I (indeed) didn’t understand.”

The 就 highlights that the difficulty just described actually happened: precisely at that time (刚才), under that condition (in the park), the result was “I didn’t understand.”

You don’t have to translate 就 directly; it’s mostly:

adding emphasis: “I ended up not understanding,” “I actually didn’t understand.”

Why is 没 used before 听懂 instead of 不? What’s the difference between 没听懂 and 不懂?

没 and 不 both negate verbs, but they’re used differently:

没 (没有)
- Used for past events or actions that didn’t happen / weren’t completed.
- Used with “result” verbs like 懂, 看到, 听见, etc. to mean “didn’t manage to”.
- 没听懂 = “did not manage to understand (then) / didn’t understand (that time).”
不
- Used for general, habitual, or future negation, or things that are normally true.
- 不懂 = “(I) don’t understand” (as a general or current state).

So:

刚才我就没听懂。
“Just now I didn’t (manage to) understand.” (Refers to that specific moment.)

If you said:

我不懂。

that’s like “I don’t understand (this in general / now).” It’s not tied to that specific event of listening “just now.”

Why is there no object after 听清楚 and 听懂? Shouldn’t it say 听清楚她的话 or 没听懂她说什么?

In Chinese, if the object is obvious from context, it’s very natural to omit it.

Here, the context is her voice and what she says, so native speakers will automatically understand:

不容易听清楚 → “(Her words) are not easy to hear clearly.”
没听懂 → “(I) didn’t understand (what she said).”

You can add the object if you want to be more explicit:

在公园里不容易听清楚她说的话。
比如刚才我就没听懂她说什么。

But in everyday speech, dropping the object is very common and sounds natural when it’s already clear who/what you’re talking about.

Are 清楚 and 懂 here special grammar elements? What kind of structure are 听清楚 and 听懂?

Yes. 清楚 and 懂 here are result complements (结果补语).

Structure:

Verb + result complement

The complement shows the result or outcome of the action:

听清楚: “to listen-hear-clearly” → result: clarity
听懂: “to listen-hear-understand” → result: understanding

Other common ones:

看见 – to see (successfully)
写完 – to finish writing
找错 – to find (it) incorrectly / to find the wrong (thing)

So in:

不容易听清楚 – “It’s not easy to achieve the result ‘hear clearly’.”
没听懂 – “(I) didn’t achieve the result ‘understand’ (what I heard).”

Why is there no 了 in 刚才我就没听懂? Shouldn’t past actions use 了?

You don’t always need 了 to talk about the past. In this sentence:

刚才 already clearly marks the past time (“just now”).
没 already marks a non-completed past action (did not manage to do).

So:

刚才我就没听懂。
already clearly means “Just now I didn’t understand.”

If you added 了 here (刚才我就没听懂了), it would sound odd or change the nuance; usually you don’t use 了 after 没 in this kind of simple past-negation sentence.

The combination of 刚才 (time word) and 没 (negative for past/result) is already enough to show past tense.