Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒmen yīnggāi nǔlì xuéxí zhōngwén.

Putting 努力 at the very end (我们应该学习中文努力) breaks this pattern and sounds ungrammatical, because native speakers expect the “how” (努力) to come before the main verb (学习), not after the object (中文).

Is 努力 an adjective or an adverb here? Do I need 地, as in 努力地学习?

努力 can be both an adjective (“hard‑working”) and an adverb (“diligently, with effort”), depending on position and usage.

In 我们应该努力学习中文:

努力 is functioning as an adverb modifying 学习: study diligently.

You can say:

我们应该努力地学习中文。

This is grammatically correct and a bit more formal or explicit (literally: we should in a diligent way study Chinese).

In modern spoken Chinese, it’s very common to drop 地 and just say 努力学习, so:

我们应该努力学习中文。 – most natural in conversation
我们应该努力地学习中文。 – slightly more formal / written style

Both are correct.

What’s the difference between 学 and 学习? Can I say 我们应该努力学中文?

Yes, you can say:

我们应该努力学中文。

The meaning in this sentence is essentially the same.

学 vs 学习:

学习 is a bit more formal and often means “to study, to learn (as an activity or process).”
学 is slightly shorter/more casual and often used in everyday speech.

In many contexts, they are interchangeable:

学中文 / 学习中文 – both: study Chinese
学英语 / 学习英语 – study English

Sometimes 学习 sounds more like “engage in study” or “learn systematically,” and 学 can sound more general or colloquial, but here the difference is very small.

What’s the difference between 中文 and 汉语? Could I say 我们应该努力学习汉语 instead?

Yes, you can say:

我们应该努力学习汉语。

The basic meaning is still “We should work hard to study Chinese.”

Differences:

中文 (zhōngwén)
- Literally: “Chinese written language / Chinese language”
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Can refer to the Chinese language generally (speaking + writing).
- Also used for “Chinese (subject), Chinese text/writing.”
汉语 (hànyǔ)
- Literally: “Han language” (the language of the Han ethnic majority).
- Often used in more formal / linguistic / academic contexts.
- Common in textbooks, course names, language‑learning contexts: 汉语课, 汉语水平.

In practice, in sentences like this, 中文 and 汉语 are both acceptable, and 中文 feels a bit more colloquial.

What exactly does 应该 mean here? Is it as strong as “must”?

应该 (yīnggāi) expresses:

duty / moral obligation (“should, ought to”)
reasonable expectation (“be supposed to, probably will/does” in some contexts)

In 我们应该努力学习中文:

It’s mainly “should / ought to” – a suggestion or sense of responsibility, not a strict requirement.

Strength comparison (roughly):

应该 – should, ought to (advice, expectation)
要 / 得 (děi) – need to, have to (stronger, but still context-dependent)
必须 (bìxū) – must (very strong obligation, no choice)

So 我们应该努力学习中文 is softer than 我们必须努力学习中文.

How do I negate this sentence correctly? Is 我们应该不努力学习中文 correct?

To negate 应该, put 不 before 应该, not after it:

我们不应该努力学习中文。 – We shouldn’t work hard to study Chinese. (odd idea, but grammatically correct)

我们应该不努力学习中文 is ungrammatical in normal usage.

General pattern:

Modal verb 不
is usually wrong here.
Use 不 + modal verb:
- 应该 → 不应该
- 会 → 不会
- 能 → 不能 / 不能够

If you want to say “we shouldn’t (do X in general) while we study Chinese,” you usually restructure the sentence altogether, but for a direct negation of “should,” 不应该 is the correct form.

Can I drop 我们 and just say 应该努力学习中文?

Yes, you can omit 我们 if the subject is clear from context:

应该努力学习中文。 – [We/You/They] should work hard to study Chinese.

In Chinese, subjects are often dropped when they’re obvious from:

The conversation context
The situation (e.g., teacher speaking to students)
Previous sentences

However, if you want to be clear that you mean we, especially in a standalone sentence, it’s more natural to keep 我们.

Where would I put time words like “now” or “every day” in this sentence?

In Chinese, the common pattern is:

[Subject] + [Time word] + [Modal] + [Manner] + [Verb] + [Object]

So, starting from 我们应该努力学习中文, you could say:

我们现在应该努力学习中文。 – We should now work hard to study Chinese.
我们每天都应该努力学习中文。 – We should work hard to study Chinese every day.

Notice:

现在 / 每天 comes after 我们 and before 应该.
With 每天, it’s very common to add 都:
- 我们每天都应该努力学习中文。 (sounds very natural)

Why is there no word like English “to” (as in “to study”) in 努力学习?

Chinese does not use an infinitive marker like English to before verbs.

In English: work hard to study Chinese
In Chinese: 努力学习中文 (literally: “diligently study Chinese”)

Structure:

努力 – adverb (how)
学习 – verb (do what)
中文 – object (what)

The idea of “to” is built into the verb relationship; you simply put the adverb before the verb, without a linking word:

认真工作 – work seriously (not “work to seriously”)
努力学习 – study hard (not “to study hard”)

How do I pronounce each word correctly, and are there any common tone mistakes with this sentence?

Pinyin and tones:

我们 – wǒmen
- 我 wǒ – 3rd tone
- 们 men – neutral tone
应该 – yīnggāi
- 应 yīng – 1st tone
- 该 gāi – 1st tone
努力 – nǔlì
- 努 nǔ – 3rd tone
- 力 lì – 4th tone
学习 – xuéxí
- 学 xué – 2nd tone
- 习 xí – 2nd tone
中文 – zhōngwén
- 中 zhōng – 1st tone
- 文 wén – 2nd tone

Common issues:

Mixing up nǔlì as núlì or núlì – keep 努 as a 3rd tone.
Saying xuéxì instead of xuéxí – the second syllable of 学习 is 2nd tone (xí), not 4th tone (xì).
Stressing 们 in 我们 too much – it’s neutral tone; the main tone is on 我 (wǒ).

Saying the whole sentence smoothly:

wǒmen yīnggāi nǔlì xuéxí zhōngwén.

Is 努力学习中文 more like “study hard” or “work hard in order to study Chinese”?

努力学习中文 most naturally means:

“study Chinese hard / study Chinese diligently.”

努力 is directly modifying 学习; it describes how you study Chinese.

English often uses “work hard to study,” but in Chinese there is usually no extra “to” or separate “work” verb here. You just say:

努力学习 – study hard
好好学习 – study well / study properly

So 我们应该努力学习中文 is best understood as:

We should study Chinese hard / We should work hard at studying Chinese,
not as two separate actions (work hard → to study).