Learn Hardcore Chinese: xiàyǔ de zhōumò tā yí gè rén zài jiā huì juéde hěn wúliáo. - On rainy weekends she feels very bored when she is at home alone.

下雨的周末 literally = “raining-of weekend” → “rainy weekend” / “weekend when it rains.”
Pattern: [verb / verb phrase] + 的 + [noun] = “the [noun] that [verb]”
- 下雨的周末 – the weekend(s) that it rains
- 喜欢音乐的人 – people who like music

Without 的, 下雨周末 is ungrammatical; Chinese needs 的 to link the modifier to the noun.

Is 下雨的周末 the same as saying “on weekends when it rains”? Why is it at the very beginning?

Yes, 下雨的周末 here means “on rainy weekends / on weekends when it rains.”

Putting it at the beginning is very natural because Chinese often starts with time or setting as a topic, then comments on it:

下雨的周末， 她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。
→ As for rainy weekends, when she is at home alone, she feels very bored.

You could also say:

在下雨的周末，她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。

Adding 在 is acceptable and just emphasizes “during rainy weekends,” but it’s not required.

What exactly does 会 do in this sentence? Does it just mean “will”?

会 (huì) has several meanings; here it shows a tendency / likelihood rather than strict future tense.

In this sentence, 会 roughly means:

“tends to / is likely to / will (as a habitual result)”

So:

她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。
= When she’s home alone, she (typically) feels / will feel very bored.

It doesn’t necessarily refer to a particular future weekend; it states what usually happens in that situation.

Why do we need 很 before 无聊? Can we just say 会觉得无聊?

In everyday spoken Chinese, a “degree” adverb like 很 is very often used before adjectives (like 无聊, 高兴, 累) to make the sentence sound natural and complete.

会觉得很无聊 sounds smooth and natural.
会觉得无聊 is not wrong, but can sound a bit abrupt or slightly more “flat” or written.

Also, 很 often doesn’t literally mean “very”; here it’s more like a default linker between 觉得 and the adjective:

我很累。 – I’m (really) tired / I’m tired.
他很高兴。 – He’s (really) happy / He’s happy.

So 很 is there both for natural rhythm and to soften the adjective.

What does 一个人 mean here exactly? Why do we need 一 and 个 if it just means “alone”?

In this pattern, 一个人 is an idiomatic phrase that means “alone, by oneself.”

Literally:

一 – one
个 – measure word
人 – person

But together 一个人 = “one person (only)” → “by oneself / alone.”

Compare:

她在家。 – She’s at home. (Could be with others.)
她一个人在家。 – She’s at home by herself (no one else with her).

You can’t just say 她人在家; you need 一个人 as a fixed expression for “alone.”

Why is the word order 她一个人在家会觉得很无聊 and not something like 她会觉得在家一个人很无聊?

Both are possible, but they emphasize slightly different things.

The original:

她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。
Order: 她 (she) + 一个人 (alone) + 在家 (at home) + 会觉得 (will feel) + 很无聊 (very bored)
→ Focuses first on her state/location (alone at home), then the resulting feeling.

Your alternative:

她会觉得在家一个人很无聊。
→ Focuses first on the feeling, and then specifies what she feels is boring: being alone at home.

Both are grammatical. The original is closer to a typical Chinese pattern:
[subject] + [state / time / place] + 会觉得 + [adjective].

Can we omit 在家? For example: 下雨的周末她一个人会觉得很无聊?

Yes, you can say:

下雨的周末，她一个人会觉得很无聊。

This still makes sense, because 一个人 already implies “by herself,” and context might make it clear that she’s at home.

However, 在家 adds a concrete location, making the situation more specific:
“On rainy weekends, when she’s by herself at home, she feels very bored.”

Without 在家, it becomes more general: she’s alone (wherever) and then feels bored.

What’s the difference between 下雨 and 在下雨? Could we say 在下雨的周末?

下雨 on its own is a verb phrase: “to rain / it rains.”
在下雨 is typically used as “it is raining (right now)” – 在 marks ongoing action.

In 下雨的周末, 下雨 is being used as a modifier (“raining”) before 周末, with 的. That’s already enough.

在下雨的周末 is acceptable and means “during rainy weekends,” with 在 emphasizing time / circumstance. It’s like saying:

在下雨的周末 – during rainy weekends
下雨的周末 – (on) rainy weekends

Both are okay; the shorter version is more neutral.

Is 无聊 a verb (like “to be bored”) or an adjective (like “boring / bored”)?

In Chinese, 无聊 is an adjective, but adjectives behave a bit like “stative verbs” (they can act as predicates without 是).

In this sentence:

觉得很无聊 = “feel very bored / feel it is very boring.”

So:

很无聊 – “(is) very boring / very bored.”
You don’t say 是很无聊 after 觉得; you just use 觉得 + 很 + adjective.

无聊 can describe both things and people’s feelings, depending on context:

这本书很无聊。 – This book is boring.
我一个人在家，很无聊。 – I’m at home alone; I feel bored.

Why don’t we need 会觉得很无聊的 at the end, like a relative clause?

We’re not trying to describe a noun with “who will feel bored”; we’re making a full statement about what happens in that situation.

她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。
→ Complete clause: subject (她), situation (一个人在家), result (会觉得很无聊).

If you added 的:

她一个人在家会觉得很无聊的…
This would need to modify a noun or continue into something else. On its own it sounds incomplete or like you’re trailing off.

So we leave it without 的 because it’s a normal declarative sentence, not a phrase modifying a noun.

Where is the subject in this sentence? Is it 周末 or 她?

The real grammatical subject of the main clause is 她.

The sentence is:

下雨的周末， (time/topic)
她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。 (main clause)

下雨的周末 is a time phrase / topic put at the front. Chinese often uses topic–comment structure:

[Topic]， [Comment about that topic].

So:

Topic: 下雨的周末 – on rainy weekends
Comment (main sentence): 她一个人在家会觉得很无聊。 – she feels bored when alone at home.

Could we drop 她 and just say 下雨的周末，一个人在家会觉得很无聊?

Yes, in context you can drop 她 if it’s clear who you’re talking about, and Chinese often omits obvious subjects.

下雨的周末，一个人在家会觉得很无聊。
→ “On rainy weekends, (I / she / you / people in general) feel very bored when alone at home.”

However, without 她, the subject becomes ambiguous. It might sound like a general statement about anyone. If you specifically mean she, it’s clearer and more natural to keep 她 in a stand‑alone sentence.

Is there any difference between 觉得很无聊 and 很无聊? Why use 觉得?

很无聊 on its own states a fact or description:
- 在家很无聊。 – It’s very boring at home.
觉得很无聊 adds the idea of subjective feeling / opinion:
- 在家会觉得很无聊。 – (She) will feel that being at home is very boring.

So 觉得 emphasizes that this is her personal feeling, not an objective fact about the world. In English, it corresponds to “feel / find / think (that)… is boring.”