Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒmen wǎnshang xiàbān yǐhòu wǎng gōngyuán zǒu. - After work in the evening we walk toward the park.

Chinese likes to put time expressions early in the sentence, before the verb phrase, and then direction/place before the main verb when using prepositions like 往.

What exactly does 下班 mean here? Is it a verb or a noun?

下班 (xiàbān) is a verb phrase 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

In 下班以后, the structure is:

下班 – finish work
以后 – after

So 下班以后 literally means “after (we) finish work.” It’s not “after work” as a noun (like “after the work”) but “after finishing work” as an action.

Why is it 下班以后 instead of 下了班以后? Can I add 了 there?

Both are possible, with a small nuance:

下班以后 – neutral, talking about the time period after the action of getting off work, in a general way.
下了班以后 – slightly more emphasis on the completion of the action (“after we have gotten off work”).

In everyday speech, 下班以后 is very common and perfectly natural.
You can say 我们晚上下了班以后往公园走, and it will still be correct; it just sounds a bit more like you are focusing on “once we’re done with work.”

What does 以后 do here? Does it mean “later” or “after”?

In this sentence, 以后 (yǐhòu) means “after” in a temporal sense:

下班以后 – after finishing work

Common patterns:

Verb + 以后 – after doing X
- 吃饭以后 – after eating
- 下课以后 – after class ends

以后 can also mean “in the future / from now on” in other contexts (e.g. 以后别这样 – “Don’t do this in the future”), but here it clearly links two times: the time you get off work, and the time you go to the park.

What is the function of 往 in this sentence? Can I replace it with 去?

往 (wǎng) is a preposition meaning “toward / in the direction of.”

往公园走 literally: “walk toward the park.”

You can often replace it with 去 (qù, “go”) but the structure changes:

往公园走 – preposition 往
- place + main verb 走
去公园 – main verb 去
- place (object)

So:

我们晚上下班以后往公园走。 – “We walk toward the park (on foot).”
我们晚上下班以后去公园。 – “We go to the park.” (not specifying walking)

Both are grammatical; 往公园走 sounds slightly more “walking-focused” and a bit more directional: toward that place.

Does 走 here mean specifically “to walk,” or can it just mean “to go”?

走 (zǒu) can mean both “to walk” and “to leave / to go (away)” depending on context.

Here, because it’s paired with 往公园 (“toward the park”), it suggests walking as the means of movement:

往公园走 – walk toward the park

If you want a neutral “go,” you would normally use 去:

去公园 – go to the park (by any transport)

In many casual contexts, 走 alone can mean “to go / to leave now” (e.g. 走了！ – “I’m off!”), but with a place expression like this, it leans toward “walk.”

Why is it 往公园走 and not 走往公园? Can the order be reversed?

With prepositions like 往, the normal pattern is:

[Preposition + Place] + Main Verb

So:

往公园走 – toward-the-park + walk

走往公园 is not natural in modern Mandarin.
Think of 往 as starting a prepositional phrase that must come before the main verb:

往前看 – look forward
往右转 – turn right
往学校跑 – run toward the school

So the order 往 + place + verb is the standard one.

Why is there no 了 at the end of the sentence? Could I say 走了?

Here the sentence describes a habitual / regular action, not a one-time completed action. For that, Mandarin typically does not use 了.

我们晚上下班以后往公园走。 – We (usually) walk toward the park after work in the evening. (habit)

If you add 了 to 走:

我们晚上下班以后往公园走了。

This sounds more like you are describing a specific past occasion:
“After we got off work this evening, we (then) walked to/toward the park.”

So:

No 了 → general habit / routine.
With 了 → specific completed event.

Why is there no measure word or classifier after 公园? Should it be 一个公园?

Location nouns like 公园 (gōngyuán, park) often do not need a measure word when you’re just talking about that place in general:

去公园 – go to the park
在公园玩 – play in the park

You would use a measure word when you want to count or specify:

一个公园 – one (a) park
几个公园 – several parks

In this sentence, you’re not counting; you’re just indicating destination, so 公园 alone is natural.

Why is 晚上 placed there? Could I move it to the end or somewhere else?

Typical Chinese word order for time is:

(Subject) + Time + (Other adverbials) + Verb …

So 我们晚上下班以后往公园走 is very natural:

我们 – subject
晚上 – broad time
下班以后 – more specific time (after the event)
rest – movement phrase

You could move 晚上 a bit and still be grammatical:

我们下班以后晚上往公园走。 – understandable, but sounds less natural; the usual order is big time → more specific time.

Putting 晚上 at the very end, like 我们下班以后往公园走晚上, is ungrammatical.

What does 我们 cover here? Is it “we,” “us,” or “our”?

我们 (wǒmen) is the plural of 我 (I/me) and generally means “we / us.”

Chinese doesn’t distinguish subject vs object forms like English does (“we” vs “us”). 我们 can play both roles:

我们晚上下班以后往公园走。 – We walk toward the park.
老师看见我们 – The teacher saw us.

In this sentence, 我们 is clearly the subject (“we”). It does not mean “our” here; that would usually be 我们的 (our + noun), e.g. 我们的公园 (our park).

Is the pronunciation of 晚上 exactly wǎnshàng? I’ve heard the second syllable sounds weak.

晚上 is written as wǎnshang in many dictionaries:

晚 – wǎn (3rd tone)
上 – usually becomes a neutral tone here: shang (no full tone)

So you say it as wǎn·shang, with the second syllable short and light.

Similarly, 公园 is gōngyuán (1st + 2nd tone), and 以后 is yǐhòu (3rd + 4th tone).
Paying attention to the neutral tone on 上 will make your speech sound more natural.