Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā zǒuchū fángjiān, zài kètīng lǐ xiūxi. - She walked out of the room and rested in the living room.

她走出房间 = She walks out of the room.
If you said only 她出房间, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in most contexts; 出 usually needs a manner verb (like 走, 跑, 飞, 跳) or to be part of a fixed pattern like 出去 / 出来.

So 走出房间 tells you both how she moves (walking) and in what direction (out of the room).

Why is there no word for “of” in 走出房间? In English we say “out of the room”.

Chinese doesn’t need a separate word like “of” here. The structure is:

走出 + place = walk out of + place

The object 房间 directly follows the verb phrase 走出:

她走出房间。= She walked out of the room.

The idea of “out of” is already contained in 出 + the place, so no extra preposition is used.

Why do we use 在 with 客厅 (在客厅里休息) but not with 房间 (走出房间)?

Because the functions are different:

走出房间: describes movement out of a place.
- Structure: [verb + direction] + place
- 出 already indicates the direction “out (of)”, so no 在 is used.
在客厅里休息: describes location of an action.
- Structure: 在 + place + (里) + verb
- 在 marks where the action (resting) happens: rest in the living room.

So:

When talking about where an action takes place → use 在…
When talking about moving into/out of somewhere with a directional verb → usually no 在 before the place.

What’s the difference between 在客厅休息 and 在客厅里休息? Is 里 necessary?

里 is not strictly necessary here, and both are correct:

在客厅休息 – rest in the living room.
在客厅里休息 – also “rest in the living room,” with a bit more sense of inside that space.

里 emphasizes the inside of the area. With a room-like space such as 客厅, 里 is very natural but can often be omitted in casual speech:

我在房间(里)。
他们在教室(里)。

Meaning difference is small; 在客厅休息 sounds just slightly more casual/neutral, 在客厅里休息 a bit more explicitly “inside” the living room.

Could we say just 在客厅休息 without 里 in this sentence?

Yes.
You can say:

她走出房间，在客厅休息。

This is natural and commonly used. 里 simply adds a slight “inside” nuance but isn’t required.

Why isn’t there another 她 before 在客厅里休息? In English we’d say “She walked out of the room, and she rested in the living room.”

Chinese often omits repeated subjects when it’s clear from context. Here, both actions are done by the same person:

她走出房间，(她)在客厅里休息。

The second 她 is understood and therefore dropped. It would still be grammatical to keep it:

她走出房间，她在客厅里休息。

But that usually sounds more emphatic or slightly more written. The version without the second 她 is more natural in everyday narration.

How do we know this happened in the past? There are no past tense markers like in English.

Mandarin does not change verb forms for tense. Time is usually shown by:

Time words: 昨天, 刚才, 以后, etc.
Context and narrative flow.
Aspect particles like 了, 过, 着 (but these show type of action, not exactly “past tense”).

In isolation, 她走出房间，在客厅里休息 could be:

“She walks out of the room and rests in the living room.” (present, e.g., in a live commentary)
“She walked out of the room and rested in the living room.” (past, in a narrative)

We infer the time from the larger context, not from verb inflections.

Why is 休息 pronounced xiūxi, not xiūxí like the pinyin suggests?

The pinyin is xiūxí (1st tone + 2nd tone), but in real speech the second syllable often becomes a neutral tone:

Dictionary form: xiūxí
Common spoken form: xiūxi (second syllable light and short)

This is a common pattern: the second syllable of many two-syllable words can become neutral in fast, natural speech (e.g. 东西 dōngxi, 妈妈 māma).

Is 休息 a verb or a noun here?

In this sentence, 休息 is used as a verb:

在客厅里休息 = rest / to rest in the living room.

But 休息 can also function as a noun in other contexts:

我需要休息。= I need a rest.
休息时间到了。= Break time is here.

So its function (verb vs noun) depends on the structure, but here it’s clearly verbal.

Could we say 她出了房间，在客厅里休息 instead of 她走出房间? What is the difference?

Yes, 她出了房间，在客厅里休息 is grammatical and understandable.

Nuances:

走出房间 – emphasizes the manner of leaving: she walked out.
出了房间 – more neutral; simply “went out of the room” without specifying walking, running, etc.

In many contexts they are almost interchangeable, but:

If you specifically want to contrast walking vs. running or some other way, use 走出.
If manner is unimportant, plain 出了房间 is fine.

What’s the difference between 走出房间 and 走出房间去 / 走出房间走出去?

Common patterns:

走出房间
- Focus on the action of leaving the room: “walk out of the room.”
走出去 (no object)
- 走 + 出 + 去 = walk + out + away (from the speaker): “walk out (to outside).”
走出房间去
- 走 + 出 + 房间 + 去 = walk out of the room (and go away from here).
- Slight extra sense of moving away from the current location.

走出房间走出去 is redundant and unnatural; you normally choose one pattern.

In your sentence, 走出房间 is already complete and natural.

Why is there a comma (，) in the middle? Is it like “and”?

The comma here separates two actions in sequence:

她走出房间，
在客厅里休息。

In English we might say:

“She walked out of the room and rested in the living room.”

Mandarin can connect such clauses just with a comma, without an explicit conjunction like 和 or 然后. The comma suggests:

sequence (“after that”) or
a simple listing of successive actions.

Here it clearly indicates first she leaves the room, then she rests in the living room.

What’s the difference between 房间 and 客厅?

They refer to different kinds of rooms:

房间 (fángjiān) – general word for “room”; often used for bedrooms but can be any room.
客厅 (kètīng) – living room, the room where you receive guests or sit with the family.

So the sentence describes her moving from a room (likely bedroom) to the living room.

Do we need measure words like 一个房间 or 一个客厅 here?

No, not in this sentence. You use measure words when you:

count or specify quantity:
- 一个房间 (one room)
- 两个客厅 (two living rooms)

Here, 房间 and 客厅 refer to specific, context-known places in the house, not to numbers of rooms. So:

她走出房间，在客厅里休息。

is natural without 个.

Could we say 在客厅里面休息 instead of 在客厅里休息? What’s the difference between 里 and 里面?

Yes, you can say:

在客厅里面休息。

里 and 里面 are very similar:

里 – shorter, very common in spoken and written Chinese.
里面 – often a bit more explicit or emphatic meaning “inside.”

In this sentence the difference in meaning is tiny:

在客厅里休息 – rest in the living room.
在客厅里面休息 – rest inside the living room (slightly more “inside” feeling, more syllables).

Both are natural; 里 is a bit more concise.

Could I say 她在客厅里走出房间休息?

No, that word order is incorrect.

Reason:

走出房间 is a complete movement phrase: “walk out of the room.”
在客厅里休息 is a location + action phrase: “rest in the living room.”

They describe two different places and two different actions, one after the other. You cannot insert 在客厅里 inside the movement phrase about leaving the room.

Correct patterns:

她走出房间，在客厅里休息。
她在客厅里休息。
她从房间里出来，在客厅里休息。

But 她在客厅里走出房间休息 mixes the locations in a way that doesn’t match the logic of the actions.