Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒmen lǚyóu huílái yǐhòu, zǒngshì bǎ zhàopiàn fā gěi péngyou. - After we come back from traveling, we always send the photos to our friends.

So 旅游回来以后 is “after having traveled and (then) come back”. It’s a compact way to say “after we come back from our trip” without extra prepositions.

Why is 以后 placed after 回来? Could I say 以后我们旅游回来 or 我们以后旅游回来 instead?

以后 here marks the time after a completed action, so it naturally follows the verb phrase that it refers to:

旅游回来以后 = after we come back from traveling

If you move 以后:

以后我们旅游回来
– Feels odd; 以后 would then mean “from now on / in the future”, and the clause doesn’t quite work.
我们以后旅游回来
– Means something like “In the future, we will travel and then come back”, not “after we come back from traveling”.

The pattern you want for “after doing X” is:

[verb phrase] + 以后，…
- 吃完饭以后，我们去散步。 – After we finish eating, we go for a walk.
- 下班以后，我回家。 – After work, I go home.

So 旅游回来以后 is the natural and correct order here.

What does 总是 do in this sentence, and can it go in a different position?

总是 means “always” and it modifies the verb phrase that comes after it.

In your sentence:

总是把照片发给朋友。
“(We) always send the photos to (our) friends.”

Typical position: subject + 总是 + verb phrase

我们总是吃同一家餐厅。 – We always eat at the same restaurant.

You could also put 总是 after the subject but before 把, as in the sentence:

我们旅游回来以后，总是把照片发给朋友。 ✅

Placing 总是 in other positions (e.g. after 把) would sound unnatural:

✗ 我们旅游回来以后，把总是照片发给朋友。 – wrong

So: subject → (time phrase) → 总是 → 把-structure/verb phrase is the standard pattern.

Why do we need 把 here? Could we just say 我们…总是发照片给朋友?

You can say both, but they have slightly different emphases.

With 把 (your sentence):

我们旅游回来以后，总是把照片发给朋友。

Pattern: subject + 把 + object + verb (+ 给 + recipient)
Here, 把照片 brings 照片 (the photos) to the front and highlights them as the thing being acted on.

Without 把:

我们旅游回来以后，总是发照片给朋友。 ✅

This is perfectly correct and natural.
Pattern: subject + verb + object + 给 + recipient

Difference in feel:

With 把: Focuses more on what happens to the photos (they get sent to friends).
Without 把: More neutral; just stating the action “send photos to friends”.

In everyday speech, many people would say it without 把, but using 把 is also very standard and helps learners get used to the structure.

Is 发给 one word (a compound verb), or is it 发 + 给 separately? Why not just say 发朋友?

Think of 发给 as “send to”:

发 – to send
给 – to, for (introducing the recipient)

They are technically two words, but they act together as verb + preposition:

发给朋友 – send to friends

You cannot say:

✗ 发朋友 (to mean “send to friends”)

That would sound like “send friends (as objects)” which is wrong.

Common patterns:

发给 + recipient + (something)
- 发给你一封邮件。 – (I’ll) send you an email.
Or 把 + something + 发给 + recipient
- 把照片发给朋友。 – send the photos to friends.

So 发给 is not a single dictionary word, but 发 + 给 works as a unit meaning “send to (someone)”.

Can we also say 把照片给朋友发? What’s the difference between 发给朋友 and 给朋友发?

Both patterns are used in Chinese:

发给朋友 – send to friends
- The verb is 发, and 给朋友 marks the recipient.
- 把照片发给朋友。 – send the photos to friends.
给朋友发 – (lit.) give-to-friends send → send to friends
- The verb is still 发, but 给朋友 is placed before it.
- 给朋友发照片。 – send photos to friends.

You can say:

我们旅游回来以后，总是给朋友发照片。 ✅
我们旅游回来以后，总是把照片发给朋友。 ✅

Nuance:

给朋友发照片 feels slightly more like “to friends (we) send photos.”
把照片发给朋友 slightly emphasizes the photos (what is being handled).

Both are natural; it’s mostly word order preference and focus.

Why is there no 了 in 发给朋友? Don’t we usually mark completed actions with 了?

In this sentence, the action is habitual, not a single completed event.

总是 = always
This indicates a habit / routine:
“After we come back from a trip, we always send the photos to friends.”

For habits or general truths, Chinese normally does not use 了:

我每天吃早饭。 – I eat breakfast every day. (no 了)
他常常看书。 – He often reads. (no 了)

If you were talking about one specific trip that just finished, you might say:

我们旅游回来以后，就把照片发给朋友了。
After we came back from our trip, we (then) sent the photos to our friends.

Here 了 marks a specific completed event. In your original sentence, it’s a general pattern, so no 了.

Why don’t 照片 and 朋友 take any plural ending? How do we know it means “photos” and “friends”?

Chinese generally does not mark plural on nouns the way English does.

照片 can mean “photo” or “photos”.
朋友 can mean “friend” or “friends”.

You infer singular/plural from context:

把照片发给朋友 – in real life, after a trip, you usually have more than one photo and more than one friend, so it’s interpreted as “photos” and “friends”.

Chinese only uses the plural marker 们 for people (and often pronouns) in limited cases:

我们 – we
朋友们 – friends (when emphasizing a group, e.g. in a speech: “dear friends”)

But in everyday conversation, 朋友 is enough to mean “friends” when context is clear.

Should there be a measure word like 张 before 照片? When can we omit it?

If you are counting or specifying a number, you must use a measure word:

一张照片 – one photo
三张照片 – three photos
很多张照片 – many photos

But in your sentence, 照片 is mentioned in a general, non-counting way:

把照片发给朋友。 – send (the) photos to friends.

When you talk about things in general (not “how many”), Chinese often omits the measure word:

我喜欢吃苹果。 – I like to eat apples. (no number, no measure word)
他买了照片。 – He bought (some) photos. (context-dependent; if you care about number, you’d specify it)

So here, it’s natural not to use 张.

What’s the difference between 旅游 and 旅行? Could I say 我们旅行回来以后 instead?

Both 旅游 and 旅行 relate to traveling, but there are nuance differences:

旅游 – to travel for pleasure / sightseeing, “tourism”.
旅行 – to travel (more general: for work, moving between places, or for pleasure).

In many contexts, they overlap. In your sentence:

我们旅游回来以后… – After we come back from our (sightseeing) trip…
我们旅行回来以后… – Also understandable; a bit more neutral/formal but still okay.

Patterns:

去 + place + 旅游 – go (there) to travel (for fun)
去 + place + 旅行 – go (there) on a trip / to travel

Both are acceptable here; 旅游 is just a little more clearly about a leisure trip.

Why do we use 回来 and not just 回? What’s the role of 来 here?

回 means “to return; go back”.
回来 is 回 + 来, literally “return + come (here)” → “come back” (towards the speaker’s location).

Directional complements:

来 – come (towards speaker)
去 – go (away from speaker)

So:

回来 – come back (to where the speaker is / was)
回去 – go back (to some other place)

Examples:

你什么时候回来？ – When are you coming back? (to here)
他已经回家了。 – He has already gone back home. (no explicit direction; often understood from context)

In 旅游回来以后, the idea is “after (we) come back (home/here) from traveling”.
You could say just 旅游回家以后, but 回来 is a very natural compact way to express “come back (to here/home)”.

Why is 我们 only at the beginning of the sentence? Shouldn’t it be repeated after the comma?

Chinese often omits repeated subjects when it’s clear they are the same.

Your sentence has two parts:

我们旅游回来以后， – After we come back from a trip,
总是把照片发给朋友。 – (we) always send the photos to our friends.

The subject 我们 is understood to apply to the whole sentence, so it doesn’t need to be repeated.

This is very common:

我吃完饭以后，就去睡觉。
After I finish eating, (I) then go to sleep.
他下班以后，经常去健身房。
After he gets off work, (he) often goes to the gym.

Adding 我们 again after the comma would sound redundant and slightly unnatural:

✗ 我们旅游回来以后，我们总是把照片发给朋友。 – understandable, but clunky.

Why is there a comma after 以后? Could the sentence be written without it?

The comma marks the boundary between the time clause and the main clause:

[我们旅游回来以后]， [总是把照片发给朋友]。

In spoken Chinese, you would naturally pause there. In writing, it’s standard to separate such clauses with a comma.

You could technically write it without a comma in very informal writing, but it would be:

Harder to read.
Against normal punctuation rules.

So:

With comma: ✅ clear and standard.
Without comma: ❌ considered incorrect or at least poor style in standard written Chinese.

How is 旅 in 旅游 pronounced, and why does Pinyin sometimes write it as lü or lv?

旅 in 旅游 is pronounced lǚ (third tone) and uses the ü vowel.

In proper Pinyin, it should be written as lǚyóu.

On many keyboards, there’s no ü key, so people type:

lv to produce lü
So you type lvyou and it becomes lǚyóu.

Important points:

lǚ is not the same as lù or lǔ; the vowel is different.
When you see “lü” or “lv” in raw input, it both represent lǚ in standard Pinyin.

The final written form in textbooks and dictionaries is lǚyóu.