Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ zǒuguò hěnduō tiáo mǎlù, cái dào gōngyuán. - I had to walk across many streets before getting to the park.

过 here is part of the verb meaning “pass, cross,” not a tense marker.
Chinese doesn’t have a dedicated past-tense ending like English ‑ed. Past-ness is usually understood from context, time words, or aspect markers like 了, 过 (experiential), etc.

So 我走过很多条马路 is better understood as “I walked across many roads” rather than “I have walked many roads (in my life).”

Is this 过 in 走过 the same as the experiential 过 in sentences like 我去过中国 (“I have been to China”)?

They are written the same and related in meaning, but their functions are different in these two examples:

Experiential 过 (aspect marker)
- Pattern: Subj + Verb + 过 + (Object)
- Example: 我去过中国。 = “I have been to China (at least once).”
- It tells you about life experience, not about physically “passing” something.
Directional/complement 过 (to pass / cross) – our sentence
- Pattern: Subj + Verb + 过 + Object
- Example: 我走过很多条马路。 = “I walked across many roads.”
- Here 过 literally means “to pass / cross,” like 过桥 (“cross a bridge”), 过河 (“cross a river”).

In this sentence, it’s much more natural to understand 走过 as “walk across / past” rather than as the experiential “have walked.” The following 很多条马路 makes it sound like one specific journey, not a summary of life experience.

Could I say 我走了很多条马路，才到公园 instead? What’s the difference between 了 and 过 here?

Yes, 我走了很多条马路，才到公园 is grammatically fine, but there’s a nuance difference:

走过很多条马路
- Emphasizes the idea of crossing / passing many roads.
- 过 has that “get past / across” flavor.
走了很多条马路
- Emphasizes completed action and amount — you walked a lot of roads.
- 了 is a completion/aspect marker: it signals that the action of walking many roads is finished.

In context, both versions can be translated:

“I crossed many roads before finally reaching the park.” (走过)
“I walked along/through many roads before finally reaching the park.” (走了)

So:

Use 走过 if you want to highlight the idea of “crossing” (like many intersections).
Use 走了 if you just want to say you walked many roads in total.

What is the purpose of 才 in this sentence? How is it different from just using 然后 or nothing?

才 adds an important nuance: “only then / not until … did …”

Sentence: 我走过很多条马路，才到公园。

Literal structure:
“I crossed many roads, only then arrived at the park.”
Natural English:
“I only got to the park after crossing many roads.”
or “It was only after crossing lots of roads that I reached the park.”

才 usually suggests:

The result happened later than expected / after a lot of effort, time, or quantity.
There is a sense of “it wasn’t easy / it took a lot before this happened.”

Compare:

我走过很多条马路，然后到公园。
= “I crossed many roads and then went to the park.”
→ just a sequence; no “only after / finally” feeling.
我走过很多条马路，才到公园。
→ emphasizes that reaching the park required crossing a lot of roads; it felt like “finally”.

So 才 is not just “then”; it’s “only then (after all that)”.

Why do we use the measure word 条 with 马路? Could I leave it out and say 很多马路?

In Chinese, you normally need a measure word (classifier) between numbers/quantifiers and nouns:

很多 + 条 + 马路
三 + 条 + 马路

条 is the standard measure word for long, narrow, flexible things, such as:

一条路 – a road
一条河 – a river
一条鱼 – a fish
一条裤子 – a pair of trousers

So 很多条马路 literally means “many (strips of) roads.”

Can you say 很多马路?

In careful / standard Mandarin, it’s more natural and more correct to say 很多条马路.
Native speakers sometimes drop measure words colloquially with certain nouns, but with 马路 it’s still very typical to include 条.

For a learner, you should treat 条 as required here.

Why is it 很多条马路 and not 条很多马路 or something else? How does the word order work?

The standard pattern in Chinese is:

Quantifier (many/three/a few) + Measure word + Noun

So:

很多 + 条 + 马路 = many + (measure word) + roads
三 + 条 + 马路 = three + (measure word) + roads

You cannot say:

✗ 条很多马路 – wrong order
✗ 很多少马路 – also incorrect; you need a measure word after 多少 as well:
- 多少条马路 = how many roads

Some other examples with the same pattern:

很多个人 (many people) – 个 is the measure word
几本书 (a few books) – 本 is the measure word
两杯水 (two cups of water) – 杯 is the measure word

So the order is always: [多少／很多／几个] + [measure word] + [noun].

What is the difference between 马路, 路, and 街?

All three relate to “roads/streets,” but they differ slightly:

马路 (mǎlù)
- Literally “horse road” (historically).
- Modern meaning: a road for vehicles, usually wider, like a street/road with traffic.
- Often suggests a main road or vehicle road, not just a tiny lane.
路 (lù)
- Very general: road, way, route.
- Can mean:
  - A physical road: 这条路 – this road
  - A route / way of doing something: 出路 – a way out, solution
街 (jiē)
- Usually translated as street.
- Often part of street names: 南京街, 王府井大街 etc.
- Sounds a bit more like an “urban street,” lined with shops/buildings.

In 走过很多条马路, using 马路 makes you picture crossing many big streets / traffic roads before reaching the park. You could say 路, but 马路 is more specific and vivid here.

Is 到 here a verb meaning “arrive,” or a preposition meaning “to”? How should I understand 到公园?

In 才到公园, 到 is basically the verb “to arrive / to reach.”

到 as a verb:
- 到公园 = arrive at the park
- 几点到？ = What time do you arrive?
- 我到了。 = I’ve arrived.

Some beginners think of 到 as “to,” like an English preposition, because it’s followed by a place. But structurally in Chinese, it’s better to see it as:

到 + place = “reach that place”

So in 我走过很多条马路，才到公园。:

First clause: what happened before → 走过很多条马路
Second clause: the resulting event → (我) 才到公园 (“only then did I arrive at the park”).

How do we know this sentence is in the past if there is no past tense marker like in English?

Chinese does not mark past, present, and future by changing the verb form (no -ed, -s, will, etc.). Instead, it uses:

Context
Time expressions (昨天, 已经, 以后, etc.)
Aspect markers like 了, 过, 在, etc.

In 我走过很多条马路，才到公园。 we know it describes a completed, past event mainly because:

The structure [did X], 才 [reach Y] describes a sequence that is understood as finished.
走过 (with this 过 meaning “to cross”) and 到公园 (“arrive at the park”) both naturally refer to completed actions in this context.

If you wanted to make the past even more explicit, you could add 了 after 到:

我走过很多条马路，才到了公园。
→ very clearly “I (finally) arrived at the park after crossing many roads.”

But even without 了, native speakers interpret this as past because of the overall meaning and the use of 才.

Can I move 才 to another place, like 我才走过很多条马路到公园? Where can 才 appear in this kind of sentence?

In this sentence, 才 is correctly placed before the verb of the second clause:

我走过很多条马路，才到公园。
= After crossing many roads, only then did I get to the park.

The usual pattern is:

[Condition / effort / amount]，才 + [main result].

If you say 我才走过很多条马路到公园, it becomes confusing or ungrammatical, because:

It sounds like 才 is modifying 走过, not 到.
That would suggest: “I only then crossed many roads (to the park),” which doesn’t match the intended logic.

Some acceptable variations:

走过很多条马路我才到公园。 (no comma; still okay in speech/writing)
我走过很多条马路，才到公园去。 (adding 去 is also fine; still 才 before 到.)

But the key rule here:

才 should come before the verb that expresses the delayed / “only then” action, which is 到 (公园), not before 走过.

Could I replace 走过很多条马路，才到公园 with 走了很久，才到公园? Does 才 always imply that something took a long time?

Yes, you can say:

我走了很久，才到公园。
= “I walked for a long time before (I) finally reached the park.”

Both sentences use 才 to show that reaching the park required a lot beforehand:

很多条马路 – a lot in terms of quantity (many roads)
很久 – a lot in terms of time (a long time)

So 才 doesn’t always mean “long time,” but it does usually imply:

“only after enough X (time, distance, effort, money, etc.) did something happen.”

Examples:

花了很多钱，才买到。
= “Only after spending a lot of money was I able to buy it.”
看了三遍，才懂。
= “I only understood it after reading it three times.”

In your original sentence, 才 is highlighting that getting to the park wasn’t immediate; it took quite a bit (many roads, or a long walk).