Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ zhù zài yí gè xīn gōngyù lǐ, zài shí lóu, měitiān dōu zuò diàntī shàngqù. - I live in a new apartment on the tenth floor and take the elevator up every day.

住在一个新公寓里
- 住 = to live
- 在 here is a verb complement marking location after a verb.
- Pattern: 住在 + place = “to live at/in (a place)”
- 里 emphasizes “inside” the apartment.
- So: live-at one new apartment INSIDE → “live in a new apartment.”
在十楼
- This 在 starts a separate location phrase, almost like an adverb.
- Pattern: 在 + place, often used to introduce where something is/ happens.
- Here it’s like saying: “(It is) on the tenth floor.”

So the sentence structure is like:

我住在一个新公寓里，(这个公寓)在十楼…
“I live in a new apartment; (this apartment) is on the tenth floor…”

The two 在 are related in meaning, but one goes with 住 (live at…), and the other starts a clause describing where the apartment is (at the 10th floor).

Why do we say 住在一个新公寓里 and not just 住一个新公寓?

In Mandarin, you usually need a preposition or location word with 住:

The natural pattern is 住在 + place.
- e.g. 住在北京, 住在学校旁边, 住在这儿.

Also, when the place is an enclosed space like a room/house/apartment, it’s very normal to add 里 (“inside”):

住在一个新公寓里 = “live inside a new apartment.”
Without 里, 住在一个新公寓 is still grammatical, but feels a bit less specific/less natural. Native speakers often add 里 here.

Just 住一个新公寓 is wrong because 住 doesn’t directly take the place as an object the way English “live something” would; it needs 在 + location.

Why is it 一个 pronounced yí gè instead of yī gè?

This is a regular tone-change (tone sandhi) rule for 一 (yī):

一 (yī) changes to yí (second tone) when it comes in front of a fourth-tone syllable.
个 (gè) is fourth tone, so:
- 一 + 个 → yí gè

Other examples:

一个人 → yí gè rén
一栋楼 → yí dòng lóu

So it’s still the same word 一, just pronounced yí for smoother speech.

Is 一个新公寓 the most natural way to say “a new apartment”? Shouldn’t it be something like 一套新公寓?

Native speakers do understand 一个新公寓, and you will hear it, but it’s not the most precise/standard.

For housing, there are special measure words:

一套公寓: one apartment (unit)
一间房间: one room
一栋楼 / 一座楼: one building

So more natural options are:

我住在一套新公寓里 – I live in a new apartment (unit).
我住在一个新公寓楼里 – I live in a new apartment building (here 公寓楼 is the building).

一个 is a general measure word, so it’s acceptable in casual speech, but 一套 for an apartment unit is better if you want to sound more native-like.

Why do we add 里 after 公寓, but we don’t say 在十楼里?

里 literally means inside, and we use it when we want to emphasize being inside a space or container:

在公寓里 – in the apartment (inside that space)
在房间里 – in the room
在家里 – at home / inside the house

A “floor” (楼, as in 十楼) is more like a level than a container, so 在十楼里 sounds a bit odd in standard Mandarin. It’s usually just:

在十楼 – on the tenth floor

So:

住在一个新公寓里 – living inside the apartment.
(这个公寓)在十楼 – that apartment is on the tenth floor.

What’s the difference between 楼 (lóu) and 层 (céng) for “floor”?

Both can be related to “floors,” but they’re used differently:

楼 (lóu):
- Can mean “building” or “floor (as a level of a building)”
- 十楼 can mean “the tenth floor” (most common reading in this sentence).
层 (céng):
- Specifically refers to a layer/level/floor.
- 十层 also means “the tenth floor,” often used in more formal / written contexts or when counting levels explicitly.

In everyday speech about where you live or where a room is, using X楼 is extremely common:

我住在十楼 – I live on the 10th floor.
我们公司在八楼 – Our company is on the 8th floor.

So 在十楼 here = “on the tenth floor.”

Why is 每天都 used? Isn’t 每天 alone already “every day”?

每天 by itself does mean “every day,” so:

每天坐电梯上去 is understandable: “(I) take the elevator up every day.”

But 都 in 每天都:

Emphasizes “without exception / every single (day)”.
Makes the sentence sound more natural and fluent.

Pattern:

每X都 + verb – “every X, (I) always …”
- 每天都喝咖啡 – I drink coffee every day.
- 每个星期天都去看爷爷 – I go see Grandpa every Sunday.

In most spoken sentences like this, native speakers nearly always say 每天都 … rather than just 每天 ….

Why is the verb for using the elevator 坐电梯 and not something like “take” or “ride” literally?

In Chinese, 坐 is the common verb for “ride / take (a vehicle)”:

坐车 – take a car / bus
坐飞机 – take a plane
坐火车 – take a train
坐地铁 – take the subway
坐电梯 – take the elevator

So 坐电梯 literally is “sit/ride the elevator,” but idiomatically it just means “take the elevator.”

You could use 搭电梯 in some regions (also “take the elevator”) but 坐电梯 is the most common and standard.

What exactly does 上去 mean here? Why not just 上?

上去 is a directional complement:

上 = to go up / to ascend.
去 = away from the speaker’s current position (go there).

Together:

上去 = “go up (away from here)” / “go up there.”

In the context of an elevator:

坐电梯上去 = “go up by elevator (from a lower place to a higher place, away from where we’re currently talking about).”

Difference:

上 alone could be more general “go up,” but adding 去 makes the direction and perspective clearer: up to there (higher floors).

Other pairs:

下来 – come down (toward here)
上来 – come up (toward here)
下去 – go down (away from here)

So 上去 shows there is upward movement away from the speaker’s reference point.

Could we say 坐电梯上十楼 instead of 坐电梯上去?

Yes, you can, and it’s a very natural alternative:

每天都坐电梯上十楼。
→ “Every day (I) take the elevator up to the tenth floor.”

Difference in feel:

上十楼: explicitly mentions which floor you go up to.
上去: focuses more on the upward movement, and the destination (the floor you live on) is already understood from context (在十楼).

You can even combine them:

每天都坐电梯上到十楼。 – “Every day (I) take the elevator up to the tenth floor.”

The original sentence splits the information:

First: 在十楼 – the apartment is on the tenth floor.
Then: 坐电梯上去 – I go up (to there) by elevator.

Why is there no tense marker like “am living” or “live” in Chinese? How do we know it’s habitual?

Mandarin doesn’t mark tense the same way English does. It relies on:

Context & time words
- 每天 = every day, clearly indicates a habitual action.
- So 每天都坐电梯上去 naturally means “(I) take the elevator up every day.”
Aspect markers (了, 过, 着, etc.)
- None are used here, which fits a general or habitual statement.

我住在一个新公寓里 also has:

No time word → in context it often means “I currently live in…” or “I live in… (as a general fact).”

So the sentence structure plus 每天 shows we are talking about a routine, not a one-time event.

Could we change the word order, like saying 我在十楼住在一个新公寓里? How flexible is the order?

Chinese word order has some flexibility, but not all orders sound natural.

Your version 我在十楼住在一个新公寓里 is awkward because it repeats 在 in a strange way and mixes two location markers in front of 住.

Natural patterns:

As in the original:
- 我住在一个新公寓里，在十楼，…
- “I live in a new apartment, (it’s) on the tenth floor…”
Or combine the floor into the address:
- 我住在十楼的一个新公寓里，…
- Literally: “I live in a new apartment on the tenth floor…”
Or move 在十楼 to the beginning to set the scene:
- 在十楼，我住在一个新公寓里，每天都坐电梯上去。
- “On the tenth floor, I live in a new apartment, and every day I take the elevator up.”

But generally:

Subject + 住在 + (bigger location → smaller location) is a common structure.
Avoid stacking 在…在… directly before the same verb like in 我在十楼住在; it sounds clumsy.

Why is there no 的 between 新 and 公寓? When do we need 的 with adjectives?

的 is often used between an adjective and a noun, but it’s optional in many cases, especially with simple, single-syllable adjectives that directly modify a noun.

Here:

新公寓 and 新的公寓 are both possible.

Subtle difference:

新公寓 – a bit more concise, neutral, very common in speech.
新的公寓 – slightly more emphasis on “new,” or slightly more “full form.”

In everyday spoken Chinese:

One-syllable adjectives like 大, 小, 新, 旧, 贵, 便宜 often appear without 的:
- 大房子 vs 大的房子
- 新手机 vs 新的手机

Both are grammatically correct; the sentence simply chooses the more streamlined form 新公寓.

What’s the difference between 公寓 and 楼? Are we talking about the unit or the building?

公寓 usually means “apartment”. It can refer to:
- An apartment unit, or
- An apartment building, depending on context.
楼 is “building” (especially multi-story) or “floor/level.”

In the sentence:

一个新公寓里 – most naturally interpreted as “a new apartment unit.”
在十楼 – “(the unit is) on the tenth floor.”

So the picture is:

Building with many floors (楼).
On the 10th floor, there is an apartment (公寓) that the speaker lives in.

If you wanted to be crystal clear about “apartment unit,” you could say:

一套新公寓 – a new apartment unit.
一栋新公寓楼 – a new apartment building (the whole building).