Breakdown of zhōumò tā chángcháng gēn tóngxué qù dǎ lánqiú, yǒushíhou yě qù gōngyuán tī zúqiú.
Questions & Answers about zhōumò tā chángcháng gēn tóngxué qù dǎ lánqiú, yǒushíhou yě qù gōngyuán tī zúqiú.
In Chinese, time words like 周末, 今天, 明天, 晚上 usually stand at the beginning of the sentence without any preposition.
- 周末 他常常… literally = Weekend he often…
- You normally don’t say 在周末 for this general meaning of on weekends.
- 在周末 is possible, but it sounds more like during a certain weekend / on that weekend in a specific context.
So the basic pattern is:
- [Time word] + [Subject] + [Adverb] + [Verb]…
- 周末 他 常常 跟同学 去打篮球。
“On weekends he often goes with (his) classmates to play basketball.”
Frequency adverbs like 常常 and 有时候 usually go right after the subject:
- 他 常常 跟同学去打篮球。
- 他 有时候 去公园踢足球。
You can sometimes move them a bit, but the most natural, neutral spot is:
Subject + 常常 / 有时候 + Verb phrase
Putting 常常 right before the verb phrase tells you how often he does the action that follows.
Other positions, like 常常他跟同学去打篮球, are not natural in Mandarin.
In this sentence, 跟 means with (as in “together with someone”):
- 跟 同学 去打篮球 = go (together) with classmates to play basketball
So:
- 跟 + person = with + person
It can also mean to follow, but here the meaning is clearly with because it introduces the people he goes with.
You can say both, but they feel slightly different:
With 去
- 他常常跟同学去打篮球。
Emphasizes going somewhere (away from the current location) to play basketball. It highlights the movement.
- 他常常跟同学去打篮球。
Without 去
- 他常常跟同学打篮球。
Just states the activity “he often plays basketball with his classmates”, without focusing on the idea of going somewhere.
- 他常常跟同学打篮球。
In this sentence, 去 makes the actions sound like outings: he goes somewhere with classmates to play basketball, and (goes) to the park to play soccer.
They are verb–object phrases:
- 打 篮球 = to play basketball
- 打 = to hit / to play (certain ball games)
- 篮球 = basketball
- 踢 足球 = to play soccer (literally “to kick soccer ball”)
- 踢 = to kick
- 足球 = soccer ball / soccer
So structurally they are:
Verb + Object
In practice, people often treat them almost like fixed expressions, but grammatically they are still two-word verb–object phrases.
In Chinese, for many sports you just use the noun directly as the object of the verb, with no measure word:
- 打篮球, 打网球, 打羽毛球
- 踢足球, 滑雪, 游泳, etc.
A measure word is needed if you count something:
- 一场篮球赛 – one basketball game/match
- 三场足球比赛 – three soccer matches
Here, he is just doing the activity, not counting games, so no measure word is needed.
In Chinese, once the subject is clear, it is often omitted in later parts of the sentence:
- 周末 他常常跟同学去打篮球， 有时候也去公园踢足球。
After 他常常跟同学去打篮球, we already know we’re talking about him, so the second clause shares the same subject.
If you want, you can repeat it:
- 周末 他常常跟同学去打篮球， 他有时候也去公园踢足球。
This is grammatically correct but a bit heavier; native speakers commonly drop the repeated subject.
也 means also / too, and here it connects two different activities he does on weekends:
- Activity 1: 常常跟同学去打篮球 – he often goes with classmates to play basketball
- Activity 2: 有时候也去公园踢足球 – sometimes he also goes to the park to play soccer
If you remove 也:
- 有时候去公园踢足球
Still correct, but it loses the explicit “also”, so the contrast/connection between the two activities is weaker.
With 也, the sentence clearly says: On weekends, he often does A, and sometimes he also does B.
The usual order is:
有时候 + 也 + Verb phrase
- 有时候 也 去公园踢足球。
Here:
- 有时候 = sometimes (frequency)
- 也 = also (adds another action)
Putting 也 before 有时候 (也有时候…) is not the normal pattern and sounds unnatural in this context.
So the typical pattern is:
- 他 有时候 也 跟朋友出去。
- 他们 有时候 也 在家吃饭。
Chinese often uses just a comma to link two related clauses:
- 周末 他常常跟同学去打篮球， 有时候也去公园踢足球。
The comma here is like “and” in English:
“On weekends he often goes with classmates to play basketball, and sometimes (he) also goes to the park to play soccer.”
You could add conjunctions, but they slightly change the feel:
- 周末 他常常跟同学去打篮球，而且有时候也去公园踢足球。
“On weekends he often plays basketball with classmates, and what’s more, sometimes he also goes to the park to play soccer.”
(而且 adds a bit of “in addition / furthermore”.)
Using just a comma is the most neutral and common here.
Both are possible, with a slight nuance:
去公园踢足球
- Focus on the movement to the park and then doing the action there.
- Literally: go to the park [and] play soccer.
去公园在那儿踢足球 (more explicit, but wordier)
- Explicitly emphasizes being at the park.
If you say 在公园踢足球, you’re just stating where the action happens:
- 他在公园踢足球。 – He plays soccer in the park.
Here, since the verb 去 (to go) is already expressing “go to,” it’s natural to say:
- 去 + [place] + [do something]
去 公园 踢 足球
Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:
周末 他 常常 跟同学去打篮球…
- Puts 周末 (on weekends) at the very front:
Emphasis on the time: “As for weekends, he often…”
- Puts 周末 (on weekends) at the very front:
他 周末 常常 跟同学去打篮球…
- Still natural; here 他 comes first, then the time word.
- Slightly more neutral focus on him as the topic.
In everyday speech, both orders are quite common. Starting with the time word is very typical when you’re organizing information by time (today…, weekends…, in the evening…).
了 is often used for:
- Completed events, especially specific ones
- A change of state
In this sentence, we’re talking about regular habits:
- 常常 – often
- 有时候 – sometimes
Habits and general facts usually do not take 了:
- 他常常跟同学去打篮球。 – a regular habit
- 他有时候也去公园踢足球。 – another regular habit
If you used 了, it would sound like you are describing specific past events, not general routine.