Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā měitiān xiàbān yǐhòu zài gōngyuán zuò yùndòng. - After work every day, she exercises in the park.

Without 在, 公园做运动 sounds incomplete or unnatural. It would be like saying in English:
“she every day after work park exercises” – you need a preposition like in.

The typical pattern is:

在 + place + Verb (object)
e.g. 在家学习 = study at home
在公司工作 = work at the company
在公园做运动 = do exercise in the park

So 在 is essential here to mark 公园 as the location of 做运动.

What exactly does 做运动 mean? Can you just say 运动 or 锻炼 instead?

运动 (yùndòng) can be both a noun (“sports, exercise”) and a verb (“to exercise, to do sports”).
做运动 (zuò yùndòng) literally means “do exercise / do sports.”
锻炼 (duànliàn) is a verb meaning “to work out, to exercise (one’s body).”

All of these are possible, with small differences in feel:

她每天下班以后在公园做运动。
– Neutral, a bit “textbooky”; clearly “she does exercise/sports.”
她每天下班以后在公园运动。
– Also normal; here 运动 is used as a verb: “she exercises / plays sports.”
她每天下班以后在公园锻炼。
– Very common in real life; often implies working out / exercising the body (jogging, stretching, etc.).

In everyday speech, 运动 (as a verb) and 锻炼 are probably more common than 做运动, but 做运动 is perfectly correct and easy for learners to understand.

There’s no word for “does” or a tense marker. How do we know this means “she does exercise every day after work,” not past or future?

Chinese does not mark tense the same way English does. Instead, it relies on:

Time words
- 每天 = every day
  This strongly suggests a habitual action.
Lack of aspect markers like 了, 过, 着
- No 了 → not focusing on a completed event.
- With 每天, this typically describes a regular habit.

So 她每天下班以后在公园做运动。 naturally gets interpreted as:

She exercises in the park every day after work.

To express other times, you’d add time expressions:

Past (habit, with a clear past time):
以前，她每天下班以后在公园做运动。
“Before / In the past, she exercised in the park every day after work.”
Future plan:
从下星期开始，她每天下班以后在公园做运动。
“Starting next week, she will exercise in the park every day after work.”

What does 下班 mean literally? Why isn’t there a word for “work” in the sentence?

下班 (xiàbān) is itself a verb meaning “to get off work / to finish one’s work shift.”

上班 = to go to work / to be on duty
下班 = to get off work / to be off duty

So 下班以后 literally means “after getting off shift / after finishing work.”
Because 班 here already carries the idea of “work shift,” you don’t need to add 工作.

You generally would not say 下工作; that’s not idiomatic. You say:

下班以后 = after work
工作以后 = after (doing) work (less common in this meaning)

In daily conversation, 下班 is the standard expression.

What is the role of 以后 in 下班以后? Is there a difference between 以后 and 后, or 以后 and 之后?

以后 (yǐhòu) means “after / later (than)” in a time sense.

下班以后 = after (she) gets off work

About the similar words:

以后 vs. 后
- 下班以后 and 下班后 are both correct.
- 以后 is slightly more common in spoken language; 后 feels a bit more concise and sometimes more formal or written.
- Meaning is basically the same here.
以后 vs. 之后
- 之后 (zhīhòu) also means “after, later”.
- 下班之后 is fine and has the same meaning.
- 之后 can sound a bit more formal or narrative; 以后 is very everyday.

So you can say:

她每天下班以后在公园做运动。
她每天下班后在公园做运动。
她每天下班之后在公园做运动。

All are natural, with only small stylistic differences.

Could the sentence start with 下班以后 instead of 她 or 每天? Is that still natural?

Yes. Chinese allows some flexibility in placing time expressions at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize time.

For example:

下班以后，她每天在公园做运动。
– Emphasizes “after work” first.
每天下班以后，她在公园做运动。
– Emphasizes the whole time frame “every day after work.”

These are fully natural. The basic rule is:

(Optional) Time / place / topic → Subject → (Time/place if not already) → Verb + Object

The original sentence:

她每天下班以后在公园做运动。

puts the subject first. The versions above put time first, which is also very common, especially in storytelling or when you want to highlight time.

Why is there only one 在 before 公园? Could we say 她每天在下班以后在公园做运动?

You normally don’t put 在 before 下班以后 in this sentence.

在 is most commonly used before places or sometimes before time phrases in certain structures, but here the natural time phrase is just 下班以后 without 在.

The standard structure is:

[Subject] + [Time] + [More specific time] + 在 + Place + [Verb]

So:

她每天下班以后 在公园 做运动。

If you said:

她每天在下班以后在公园做运动。

it sounds awkward and redundant. It’s like saying:
“she every day at after work at the park does exercise” – too many ats, and 在下班以后 is not idiomatic.

So:

Use 在 once before the location: 在公园.
Do not use 在 before 下班以后 in this kind of simple sentence.

Is there any difference between 她每天下班以后在公园做运动 and 她在公园每天下班以后做运动 in meaning or naturalness?

Both are grammatical, but they feel different in terms of naturalness.

她每天下班以后在公园做运动。
– Very natural. Time information (每天下班以后) comes right after the subject, then the place, then the action.
她在公园每天下班以后做运动。
– Technically understandable, but sounds awkward.
– It splits 在公园 and 做运动 with a long time phrase (每天下班以后) in between, which interrupts the flow.

Chinese generally prefers not to separate 在 + place from the verb with heavy material, if possible. So:

✅ 她每天下班以后在公园做运动。 (preferred)
✅ 每天下班以后她在公园做运动。 (also natural)
⚠️ 她在公园每天下班以后做运动。 (understandable, but unnatural-sounding)

Why is 她 used here? Does Chinese distinguish between “he” and “she” in speech and writing?

In writing, Chinese distinguishes:

他 (tā) = he / him
她 (tā) = she / her
它 (tā) = it (things/animals, in many contexts)

However, all of them are pronounced the same: tā.

In speech, you can’t hear the difference; context tells you whether it’s “he,” “she,” or “it.”
In writing, you choose the character based on the gender (or type) of the referent.

So in this sentence:

她每天下班以后在公园做运动。

the writer has decided that the person is female, hence 她. If it were a man, it would be:

他每天下班以后在公园做运动。