Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā bù xǐhuan zuò diàntī, měicì dōu zǒu lóutī xiàlóu huí gōngyù. - She doesn’t like taking the elevator; every time she walks down the stairs back to the apartment.

In Chinese, 坐 (zuò) is widely used with vehicles and transport to mean “ride / travel by / take.” It doesn’t literally mean “sit” in this context.

Common patterns:

坐电梯 – take the elevator
坐公交(车) – take the bus
坐地铁 – take the subway
坐飞机 – take a plane
坐火车 – take a train

You could also see:

乘电梯 (chéng diàntī) – more formal/written.
搭电梯 (dā diàntī) – common in Taiwan and some regions.

But in everyday Mainland Mandarin, 坐电梯 is very natural and common.

Why is it 不喜欢坐电梯 and not just 不喜欢电梯?

Both are possible, but they focus on different things.

不喜欢坐电梯
Emphasizes the action of using the elevator.
→ She doesn’t like taking the elevator.
不喜欢电梯
Emphasizes the thing itself.
→ She doesn’t like elevators (as objects or in general).

In your sentence, we care about how she chooses to go up/down, so the action 坐电梯 is the natural focus. That’s why 喜欢 + verb phrase (坐电梯) is used.

What does 都 (dōu) do after 每次 (měicì)? Can I leave it out?

都 after a word like 每次 emphasizes “every single time, without exception.”

每次都走楼梯下楼回公寓。
= Every time she goes, she always uses the stairs to go down to her apartment.

If you drop 都:

每次走楼梯下楼回公寓。
Still grammatical, but a bit less emphatic; 都 makes the pattern feel more complete and natural.

About word order:

她每次都走楼梯下楼回公寓。 – very natural
每次她都走楼梯下楼回公寓。 – also OK, a bit more formal/emphatic

You generally don’t put 都 after the verb:

✗ 每次走都楼梯… – incorrect

In the second part after the comma, where did the subject 她 (she) go?

In Chinese, when the subject is obvious from context, it is often dropped.

Sentence:

她不喜欢坐电梯，每次都走楼梯下楼回公寓。

The second clause “每次都走楼梯下楼回公寓” has no explicit subject, but it is clearly still talking about 她 from the first clause.

English normally repeats the subject:

She doesn’t like taking the elevator; (she) walks down the stairs every time…

Chinese is comfortable with:

First clause: mention the subject 她
Second clause: omit it because we know it’s the same person

How should I understand the order 走楼梯下楼回公寓? Why are there so many verbs in a row?

This is a typical Chinese chain of manner + direction + endpoint:

走楼梯 – use the stairs (on foot)
下楼 – go down (in the building)
回公寓 – return to the apartment

Put together:

走楼梯 (how)
下楼 (which way/direction)
回公寓 (to where)

So the structure is:

[manner] + [direction] + [destination]

This kind of stacking is very normal in Chinese, especially with motion:

走路回家 – walk back home
跑下楼去买东西 – run downstairs to buy something
坐地铁去公司 – take the subway to go to the office

Reordering these too much often sounds unnatural. For example:

✗ 下楼走楼梯回公寓 – sounds awkward and out of order.

Why is it 走楼梯? In English we say “take the stairs,” not “walk stairs.”

In Chinese, 走 (zǒu) literally means “to walk,” but in this collocation 走楼梯 it effectively means “go by way of the stairs / use the stairs.”

走楼梯 – take the stairs (instead of the elevator/escalator)
走台阶 – go by the steps

So:

坐电梯 vs 走楼梯
→ take the elevator vs take the stairs

It’s completely idiomatic to combine 走 with 楼梯 like this, even though a literal translation “walk the stairs” sounds odd in English.

What’s the difference between 下楼, 楼下, and 下楼梯? Could I say 走楼梯下楼梯?

They’re related but not interchangeable:

下楼 (xiàlóu)
- Verb phrase: go downstairs / go down in the building
- Used for movement:
  - 我下楼买东西。 – I’m going downstairs to buy something.
楼下 (lóuxià)
- Noun/locative: downstairs (the place)
- Describes a location:
  - 我在楼下。 – I’m downstairs.
下楼梯 (xià lóutī)
- Literally: go down the stairs.
- You’d normally say 走下楼梯 or 从楼梯上/下来 if you really want to emphasize moving along the stairs themselves.

In your sentence, 走楼梯下楼 already expresses:

use the stairs (走楼梯)
go downstairs (下楼)

Saying 走楼梯下楼梯 would sound repetitive and unnatural.

Why is it 回公寓 and not 回到公寓? Is there a difference?

Both are possible, but 到 is often optional when the destination is clear.

回公寓 – go back to the apartment
回到公寓 – also “go back to the apartment,” but can sound a bit more explicit about the arrival.

In many everyday sentences:

回家 and 回到家
回学校 and 回到学校

are interchangeable in meaning, with 到 sometimes adding a slight emphasis on the end point. Here, 回公寓 is simpler and very natural.

Could we say 回家 instead of 回公寓? What’s the nuance?

Yes, you could say 回家, but it’s slightly different in meaning:

回家 – go back home, regardless of the type of residence.
回公寓 – go back to the apartment (as a place); it highlights the fact that it’s an apartment, not just “home” in an emotional sense.

If this person’s “home” is this apartment, both could be used in many contexts:

下楼回家 – go downstairs and go home
下楼回公寓 – go downstairs back to the apartment (more neutral, location-focused)

Why isn’t there any 了 (le) or other aspect marker in this sentence?

The sentence describes a habitual action, what she does every time, not a one‑off completed event.

每次都走楼梯下楼回公寓。
= Every time, she uses the stairs to go downstairs back to her apartment.

For habits, general truths, or repeated behaviors, Chinese normally doesn’t use 了.

You’d add 了 if you focus on a specific completed event, for example:

昨天她没坐电梯，走楼梯下楼回公寓了。
Yesterday she didn’t take the elevator; she went down the stairs back to her apartment.
(Here 了 can mark that whole sequence as a completed event.)

In your original sentence, we’re talking about what she usually/always does, so no 了 is needed.

How is 不 pronounced here? Is it bù or bú?

不 has a tone change rule:

Before a fourth‑tone syllable, 不 usually changes from bù (4th) to bú (2nd).
- e.g. 不是 is pronounced búshì.

In your sentence, 不 is followed by 喜 (xǐ), which is third tone, so there is no change:

不喜欢 is pronounced bù xǐhuan, not bú xǐhuan.

So here it stays bù.

Why is 喜欢 written as xǐhuan with a neutral tone on huan, not xǐhuān?

In modern standard Mandarin, 喜欢 is pronounced xǐhuan:

喜 – 3rd tone (xǐ)
欢 – neutral tone (no full tone, very light)

This is a common pattern where the second syllable in a frequent word becomes neutral tone in actual speech. Some dictionaries might list huān as 1st tone for the character 欢, but in the word 喜欢 we use the neutral tone.

So:

Correct: xǐhuan
Not used in speech: xǐhuān (except maybe in very deliberate spelling-out or dialectal/poetic contexts)