Learn Hardcore Chinese: dōngtiān tiānqì hěn lěng, wǒmen zài jiā hē rè chá. - In winter, when the weather is very cold, we drink hot tea at home.

Pattern: Subject + adjective works like “Subject is adjective” in English.
So 天气很冷 literally is “weather very cold”, but functions as “The weather is very cold.”

You normally do not say 天气是很冷 in simple descriptive sentences.
是 is usually not used directly before a descriptive adjective unless you’re contrasting or emphasizing something special (e.g. 天气是很冷，可是… “The weather is very cold, but…”).

Does 很 always mean “very”? Is the weather really very cold here?

Not always. In this kind of sentence:

天气很冷

很 is often acting as a linking word between the subject and an adjective, and its degree (“very”) is often weak or even almost neutral.

You must not normally say 天气冷 as a standalone general statement; it sounds incomplete or too abrupt in neutral narration.
So 很 is often needed to make the sentence feel natural, even if you don’t really mean “very”.

Depending on tone and context:

Neutral: 天气很冷 ≈ “The weather is cold.”
Emphatic: said with strong emphasis, it can mean “The weather is very cold.”

Why do we say 冬天天气很冷 and not something like 天气在冬天很冷?

Chinese usually puts time expressions near the beginning of a sentence:

(Time) + (Subject) + (Adverb) + Verb / Adjective

So:

冬天，天气很冷。
“In (the) winter, the weather is cold.”

is more natural and typical than:

天气在冬天很冷。

You can say 在冬天，天气很冷, but even then, 在冬天 (the time phrase) still appears at the front.
So the preferred order is 冬天(when) + 天气(what) + 很冷(how).

Why does 冬天 not need a word like “the” in “in the winter”?

Chinese doesn’t use articles like “a / an / the”.

冬天 by itself can mean:
- “winter” in general, or
- “the winter” in a specific context.

Which one it is depends on context, not on an article.
Here 冬天 is understood as “(in) winter” or “(in) the winter” without needing any extra word.

What exactly does 在 do in 我们在家喝热茶?

在 marks location or ongoing action, and here it’s used for location:

在家 = “at home / at the house”
Structure: Subject + 在 + Place + Verb (Object)
→ 我们在家喝热茶 = “We drink hot tea at home.”

Without 在, 我们家喝热茶 would sound like “our family drinks hot tea” rather than “we drink hot tea at home.”
So 在 is important to show “at (a place).”

Is 家 here “home” or “house”? Does it need a measure word?

In this sentence 家 means “home” as a location:

在家 is a common fixed phrase for “at home.”

You don’t need a measure word when 家 is used this way as a general place word:

我在家。 “I’m at home.”
他们不在家。 “They’re not at home.”

If you are counting houses, then you use a measure word:

一栋房子 / 一幢房子 “one house”
三家人 “three families” (here 家 can be a measure word itself).

Do we need to show tense somewhere? How do we know if this is about now, a habit, or the future?

Chinese verbs don’t change form for tense. Time is shown by:

Time words / phrases (e.g. 冬天, 明天, 昨天), and
Context.

Here:

冬天 suggests either:
- a general habit “In winter, we (usually) stay home and drink hot tea”, or
- a specific upcoming winter, depending on context.

Because there is no past marker like 了 and no specific future word, it’s most naturally understood as a general habitual statement about winters.

Why is it 热茶 and not 热的茶? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.

热茶
- A noun phrase with 热 as an attributive adjective before the noun.
- Feels like “hot tea” as a kind of tea (short, simple, common).
热的茶
- Uses 的 to link an adjective to a noun, often adding a bit more emphasis or descriptiveness.
- Feels a bit more like “tea that is hot” or “the hot tea” in some contexts.

In everyday speech, 热茶 is more concise and very natural after 喝:

喝热茶 is standard and common.
喝热的茶 is possible, but might sound a bit more specific or contrastive (e.g. not cold tea).

Why doesn’t 喝热茶 need a measure word, like “a cup of hot tea”?

Chinese often omits measure words when speaking in general about an activity, not a specific quantity:

喝茶 “(to) drink tea (in general)”
喝酒 “drink alcohol”
吃饭 “eat (a meal)”

Here 我们在家喝热茶 describes a general situation, not “one cup, two cups, etc.”
If you want to be specific, you add a measure word:

喝一杯热茶 – drink a cup of hot tea
喝两壶热茶 – drink two pots of hot tea

Why is there a comma ， instead of a period between the two parts?

Chinese often links closely related clauses with a comma where English would often use:

a comma + “and”, or
a separate sentence.

So:

冬天天气很冷，我们在家喝热茶。

corresponds to:

“In winter the weather is very cold, so we stay at home and drink hot tea.”
or
“In winter the weather is very cold. We stay at home and drink hot tea.”

The comma just connects two related clauses within one sentence; the period 。 ends the statement.

Can we drop 我们 and just say 在家喝热茶?

Grammatically, yes, you can omit the subject if it’s clear from context. Chinese often drops known subjects.

在家喝热茶。 could mean:
- “(We) drink hot tea at home.”
- “(I) drink hot tea at home.”
- “(People) drink hot tea at home.”

In a textbook example, 我们 is kept to be clear (“we”), but in real conversation, if it’s already obvious who “we” is, you might just say 在家喝热茶.

Is the pronunciation of 很冷 just two third tones in a row, or is there a tone change?

There is a tone sandhi (tone change):

Written tones: 很 (hěn) – 3rd tone, 冷 (lěng) – 3rd tone.
Spoken: when two 3rd tones are together, the first usually becomes a 2nd tone–like rise.

So in natural speech:

很冷 is pronounced hén lěng (2nd tone + 3rd tone), not hěn lěng (3rd + 3rd) in actual pronunciation.

This is a regular rule: 3rd tone + 3rd tone → 2nd + 3rd in speech.

Could we say 我们冬天在家喝热茶 instead? Is the word order okay?

Yes, that’s also correct and natural:

我们冬天在家喝热茶。
“We drink hot tea at home in the winter.”

Here the order is:

Subject (我们) + Time (冬天) + Location (在家) + Verb + Object (喝热茶)

Your original sentence:

冬天天气很冷，我们在家喝热茶。

has the time phrase attached to the first clause describing the weather, then a second clause about what “we” do. Both word orders are acceptable; they just emphasize slightly different things:

Original: emphasizes the winter weather, then our reaction.
Alternative: emphasizes our winter habit.