Learn Hardcore Chinese: fùmǔ xīwàng háizi zài xuéxiào lǐ nǔlì xuéxí, wèi le yǒu hǎo de chéngjì yě wèi le háizi zìjǐ. - Parents hope their children study hard at school, for good grades and also for the children themselves.

In this word, 为 and 了 are not functioning separately. 了 here is not the aspect particle that marks completed actions. You can think of 为了 as a single preposition that always appears together when expressing purpose:

为了孩子 – for the sake of the children
为了健康 – for (the sake of) health
为了通过考试 – in order to pass the exam

So in 为了有好的成绩也为了孩子自己, both 为了 are simply “for / in order to”, not grammatical aspect markers.

The part 为了有好的成绩也为了孩子自己 doesn’t seem to have a verb. How does this part connect to the rest of the sentence grammatically?

Chinese often omits words that are obvious from context. A more “complete” version of the sentence would be something like:

父母希望孩子在学校里努力学习，(这样做) 是为了有好的成绩，也(是)为了孩子自己。

So we can imagine an omitted 是 and an omitted 这样做 (“doing this”), but native speakers don’t need to say them.

Functionally:

父母希望孩子在学校里努力学习 – main clause: what parents hope
为了有好的成绩，也为了孩子自己 – purpose / reason: why they want the child to study hard

So that ending chunk is understood as “It is in order to get good grades, and also for the child’s own good.”

Why is it 在学校里 and not just 在学校? Is there any difference between the two?

Both are grammatically correct and very common:

在学校 – at school
在学校里 – literally “inside the school”

In modern Mandarin, 在学校 and 在学校里 here mean almost the same thing. 里 can add a slight feeling of “within that environment/inside that place”, but the difference is very small, especially in this sentence.

You could say:

孩子在学校努力学习
孩子在学校里努力学习

and they would both be natural. 在学校里 might sound just a bit more “inside the school setting” or slightly more descriptive, but you don’t need to worry about a strong difference in meaning.

Is 努力 a verb or an adverb here? Why can we say 努力学习 instead of 努力地学习?

努力 can be both a verb (“to work hard”) and an adverbial (“hard; with effort”).

In 努力学习, 努力 works as an adverbial describing how the child studies:

努力学习 = “study hard”

Formally, you could write 努力地学习, with 地 marking an adverb. But in real usage, when the adverbial is a common disyllabic word like 努力, native speakers often drop 地, especially in spoken or less formal written Chinese.

So:

努力地学习 – fully marked adverb form
努力学习 – very natural, slightly more concise; what people usually say

Both are correct, and in this sentence 努力学习 is perfectly natural.

Why is it 好的成绩 instead of 好成绩? When do we need the 的 between an adjective and a noun?

Both 好的成绩 and 好成绩 are possible here.

General tendencies:

Short, common adjectives directly before a noun often drop 的:
- 好人 (good person)
- 大房子 (big house)
- 新手机 (new phone)
When you add 的, it can sound a bit more emphatic or careful/formal, or fit written style better:
- 好的成绩 – “good grades” with a slightly more “spelled-out” feeling
- 不好的习惯 – bad habits (focus on the “badness”)

In everyday speech, 好成绩 is probably more frequent. 好的成绩 is still correct and natural; it just feels a touch more explicit or bookish. In this sentence, either is fine:

为了有好成绩
为了有好的成绩

No change in basic meaning.

Why does the sentence use 有好的成绩 instead of something like 得到好成绩 or 取得好成绩? What’s the difference?

All are possible, but they carry slightly different nuances:

有好的成绩 – literally “to have good grades”
- Focuses on the state of possessing good grades/results.
- Quite neutral and easy to understand.
得到好成绩 / 取得好成绩 – “obtain good grades; achieve good grades”
- Emphasize the achievement as a result of effort.
- Sound a bit more formal or “achievement-focused”.

So:

为了有好的成绩 – in order to have good grades
为了取得好成绩 – in order to achieve good grades (via effort, success)

In this context, 有好的成绩 is simpler and perfectly acceptable; using 取得好成绩 would sound a bit more like polished, written style.

What is the role of 也 in 也为了孩子自己? Could we just say 为了孩子自己 without 也?

也 means “also / too”. Here it marks an additional purpose:

为了有好的成绩 – for the sake of good grades
也为了孩子自己 – also for the child’s own sake

If you omit 也, the sentence is still grammatical:

为了有好的成绩，为了孩子自己。

But then it sounds like two parallel purposes without explicitly marking the “also” relationship. With 也, the rhythm and logic are clearer:

First reason: for good grades.
Also: for the child’s own good.

You generally wouldn’t replace 也 with 而且 here unless you rearranged the structure, because 而且 is a conjunction linking clauses, while 也 is an adverb modifying 为了孩子自己.

Why repeat 孩子 in 为了孩子自己? Could we just say 为了自己 or 为了他们自己?

All of these are possible, but the nuance differs:

为了孩子自己 – “for the children themselves”
- Repeating 孩子 ties this phrase directly back to the same “孩子” in the earlier part.
- Emphasizes that it is for those same children themselves.
为了自己 – just “for themselves”
- Grammatically okay but less clear in isolation: whose “self”?
- Context would still point to the children, but it’s slightly less explicit.
为了他们自己 – “for them themselves”
- Also clear and natural.
- Slightly more like “for them personally” rather than highlighting their role as children.

Using 孩子自己 keeps the focus on their role as children and creates a neat echo with earlier 孩子在学校里努力学习. It sounds very natural and slightly more emphatic: “not only for grades, but for the children themselves.”

Why is 自己 placed after 孩子 (i.e. 孩子自己) instead of before it?

自己 always comes after the noun or pronoun it refers to:

我自己 – myself
他们自己 – themselves
孩子自己 – the child(ren) themselves

You can’t say 自己孩子 with the same meaning here; 自己孩子 would more likely mean “one’s own child(ren)” (as in “one’s own kids” versus someone else’s).

So:

为了孩子自己 – “for the children themselves” (reflexive emphasis)
自己的孩子 – “(one’s) own children” (possessive “own”)

They are different structures and meanings.

Could we move 在学校里 to another position, like 在学校里，父母希望孩子努力学习? Would the meaning change?

You can move 在学校里, but you must be careful what it attaches to.

Current sentence:

父母希望 [ 孩子在学校里努力学习 ] …
→ Parents hope that the child studies hard at school.

If you say:

在学校里，父母希望孩子努力学习。

This is ambiguous or a bit odd, because 在学校里 now seems to modify 希望:

At school, the parents hope the child will study hard.

That suggests the parents are at school when they have this hope, which is probably not what you mean.

More natural alternatives keeping the same meaning:

父母希望孩子在学校里努力学习。 (original style)
父母希望孩子能在学校里努力学习。 (adds 能 “can”)

So, in this sentence, 在学校里 most naturally goes right before 努力学习, staying inside the clause about what the child does.

Why is there no 能 or 可以 after 希望, like 父母希望孩子能在学校里努力学习? Is the sentence missing something?

The sentence is not missing anything; both versions are fine but slightly different:

父母希望孩子在学校里努力学习。
- Focus: they hope the child will study hard.
- Simple, direct.
父母希望孩子能在学校里努力学习。
- 能 adds a nuance of ability/possibility:
  - “hope the child can / will be able to study hard at school.”

In many contexts, 能 is optional and doesn’t change the core meaning much; it just softens the statement slightly. Here, omitting 能 is completely natural and does not feel incomplete to native speakers.

Is 孩子 singular or plural in this sentence? And does 父母 mean “parents” in general or specific parents?

Chinese doesn’t mark singular/plural here, so 孩子 can mean “child” or “children”, depending on context.

Similarly:

父母 can mean “(the) parents” of some specific child, or “parents” in general as a group.

In a general statement like this, a natural English reading would be:

“Parents hope that their children work hard at school…”

i.e. 父母 = parents (in general), 孩子 = children (in general). If the context were a specific family, you could also read it as “The parents hope their child works hard at school…”

Could I rewrite the sentence by putting the purpose first, like 父母为了有好的成绩也为了孩子自己，希望孩子在学校里努力学习? Is that acceptable?

Yes, that’s grammatically acceptable and understandable:

父母为了有好的成绩，也为了孩子自己，希望孩子在学校里努力学习。

This version:

Brings the reasons/purposes (为了…也为了…) closer to 父母,
Then states what they hope for.

Original:

父母希望孩子在学校里努力学习，为了有好的成绩也为了孩子自己。

Original feels a bit more like:

They hope the child studies hard at school — (and this is) in order to have good grades, and also for the child’s own sake.

Your reordered version is slightly more formal/logical in structure, while the original is quite typical in everyday writing. Both are fine; the choice is more about style than correctness.