Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā shuō zìjǐ wán yóuxì bù shì wèile yíng, érshì wèile gēn péngyou yìqǐ wán de hěn gāoxìng. - She says she plays games not to win, but to have fun playing together with friends.

Emphasis on “she herself”
It slightly emphasizes that her own reason for playing is like this, not necessarily other people’s.
Avoiding repetition of 她
Instead of 她说她…, using 自己 makes the sentence a bit smoother and less repetitive.

In many reported-speech sentences, Chinese speakers like to use 自己 instead of repeating the subject pronoun, especially when it’s obvious who 自己 refers to.

Why doesn’t Chinese need “that” after “said”, like in “She said that she plays games…”?

English uses “that” to introduce a clause: She said *that she plays games…*

In Chinese, you can usually just put the clause directly after 说:

她说自己玩游戏不是为了赢…

There is no separate word that exactly matches this “that”. You could add 说的是 in some contexts:

她说的是，自己玩游戏不是为了赢…

but that slightly changes the rhythm/emphasis. Most of the time, simply:

她说 + (what she said)

is the natural structure, with no extra word like “that”.

What does 不是…而是… mean as a pattern?

不是…而是… is a very common contrast pattern:

不是 A，而是 B = not A, but (rather) B

In this sentence:

不是为了赢，而是为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。
= not in order to win, but in order to happily play together with friends.

Use it any time you want to correct or contrast two reasons, situations, or options:

我不是不喜欢你，而是需要一点时间。
It’s not that I don’t like you; I just need a bit of time.
他学习中文不是为了考试，而是为了旅行。
He studies Chinese not for exams but for travel.

Why is 为了 used twice? Could we say 不是为了赢，而是跟朋友一起玩得很高兴?

为了 means for; in order to; for the sake of.

The full pattern 不是为了 A，而是为了 B is very common and sounds balanced:

不是为了赢，而是为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。

If you drop the second 为了, you get:

不是为了赢，而是跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。

This is still understandable and not “wrong”, but the contrast feels a bit less parallel. Native speakers usually keep 为了 on both sides in this specific pattern because:

It keeps the rhythm/structure balanced.
It makes it totally clear that both parts are reasons/purposes.

So in natural speech and writing, 不是为了…，而是为了… is strongly preferred.

What exactly does 为了 mean, and where can it go in a sentence?

为了 introduces purpose or goal: for; in order to; for the sake of.

Basic pattern:

为了 + goal/purpose，(subject) + (action)
e.g. 为了考试，他每天学习。 – In order to prepare for the exam, he studies every day.

You can also put it after the subject:

他为了考试每天学习。

In the sentence here:

不是为了赢 – not for the sake of winning
而是为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴 – but rather for the sake of happily playing with friends

So 为了 + verb / verb phrase means something like “for the purpose of doing X”.

Why is 玩 used twice: 玩游戏 and 一起玩得很高兴? Isn’t that repetitive?

Chinese often repeats a verb where English might change the phrasing.

Here, the two 玩 play different roles:

玩游戏 – 玩 = to play (verb), 游戏 = game(s) (object).
→ to play games
玩得很高兴 – this is the verb + 得 + complement structure.
Here, 玩 is again the main verb, and 得很高兴 describes how she plays (happily).

So the sentence says:

She doesn’t play games for winning,
but for (being able to) play together with friends (in a way that is) very happy.

In English you might say “to have fun” the second time, but in Chinese it's completely natural (and very common) to reuse the same verb with different structures.

How does the structure 玩得很高兴 work? What is 得 doing here?

玩得很高兴 uses the “verb + 得 + complement” pattern.

玩 – the main verb: to play
得 – structural particle
很高兴 – the complement describing how she plays (degree/result/state)

So 玩得很高兴 = play (in such a way that she is) very happy → have a great time playing.

This pattern is very common:

说得很快 – speaks very fast
写得很好 – writes very well
跑得很累 – runs until (she’s) very tired

Think of 得 here as a “bridge” that links the verb to a descriptive phrase about the manner or result of the action.

Why is 很 used in 很高兴? Is she very happy, or is it just grammar?

Literally, 很 means very, but in many adjective phrases it doesn’t sound as strong as English very.

In modern Chinese:

An adjective alone (e.g. 高兴) often feels like it is making a comparison (“is happier than X”), especially in some contexts.
Adding 很 makes it sound like a simple description: (is) happy.

So:

她很高兴 – normally just She is happy.
她高兴 – can sound a bit abrupt, context-dependent; sometimes okay, sometimes slightly “bare”.

In 玩得很高兴, 很 helps the rhythm and makes it a natural descriptive complement:

玩得很高兴 = plays happily / has a good time
not necessarily super intense “very, very happy”.

So here 很 is partly grammatical smoothing, partly a soft degree marker.

Why is 跟 used here, and how is it different from 和 when saying “with friends”?

Both 跟 and 和 can mean with (when linking people):

跟朋友一起玩
和朋友一起玩

Both are correct and common.

Nuances:

跟 is very common in spoken language, slightly more colloquial.
和 is neutral; it’s fine in both spoken and written language and can sound a bit more “formal” in some contexts.

In this sentence:

为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。

could also be:

为了和朋友一起玩得很高兴。

No real meaning change; the choice is mostly style and personal habit.

What does 一起 add to 跟朋友一起玩? Isn’t “跟朋友玩” already “play with friends”?

You’re right that 跟朋友玩 already means play with friends.

Adding 一起 emphasizes “together”:

跟朋友玩 – play with friends (already implies together, but more neutral)
跟朋友一起玩 – play together with friends (stronger sense of togetherness)

In practice:

跟朋友玩 is fine and natural.
跟朋友一起玩 adds a stronger feeling of doing the activity jointly, as a group.

In this sentence, because the contrast is about winning vs having fun together, adding 一起 helps highlight the social, shared nature of the activity.

Why is there no object after 赢? Should it be 为了赢比赛 or 为了赢游戏?

赢 means to win and the object (比赛, 游戏, etc.) is often omitted when it’s obvious from context.

Here, the context is 玩游戏 – playing games. So 赢 is naturally understood as win (the game).

You could say:

不是为了赢游戏，而是…
不是为了赢比赛，而是…

Those are also correct, but a bit more specific. Since everyone already knows we’re talking about games, 赢 alone is enough and sounds natural and concise.

Why is there no plural marker on 朋友? Shouldn’t it be 朋友们 for “friends”?

Chinese usually leaves nouns unmarked for singular/plural when the number is clear from context.

朋友 can mean friend or friends depending on context.
朋友们 emphasizes the plural (friends as a group), and is often used in addressing people directly: 同学们！朋友们！

In 跟朋友一起玩, it’s totally natural to understand 朋友 as friends:

playing “with friends” is a typical situation,
there is no need to specify 一个朋友 (one friend) or 很多朋友 (many friends).

So 朋友 here is correctly interpreted as “friends” without needing 们.

Why is there no explicit subject like “she” in the second half after 而是?

Chinese often doesn’t repeat the subject if it’s clear from context.

Full, very explicit version would be:

她说自己玩游戏不是为了赢，而是(她)为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。

But since 她 is already the topic and subject of the first part, repeating it again is unnecessary. Instead, you just continue with the new predicate:

不是为了赢，而是为了跟朋友一起玩得很高兴。

Chinese is comfortable with this kind of omission as long as there’s no ambiguity about who is being talked about.