zhōumò wǒ xǐhuan gēn tóngxué zài gōngyuán dǎ lánqiú.

Chinese often puts time words at the beginning of the sentence:

• 周末 我 喜欢 ……
  Time + Subject + Verb + …

This is a very common pattern:

• 今天 我 很忙。 – Today I’m very busy.
• 明天 他 去北京。 – Tomorrow he’s going to Beijing.

You could also say:

• 我 周末 喜欢 跟同学在公园打篮球。

That’s also correct. Putting 周末 first just emphasizes “on weekends” a bit more. Both word orders are natural.

Yes, that is also correct and natural:

• 周末，我喜欢跟同学在公园打篮球。
• 周末，我喜欢在公园跟同学打篮球。

Both are fine. In Chinese, multiple phrase-like parts (time, people, place) can be reordered as long as the overall structure stays:

Time + Subject + (跟 + person) + (在 + place) + Verb + Object

The slight difference is in what you mentally group together:

• 跟同学在公园打篮球 – with classmates, in the park, play basketball
• 在公园跟同学打篮球 – in the park, with classmates, play basketball

But in everyday speech, they feel almost the same.

In this sentence, 跟 works like the English “with”:

• 跟同学在公园打篮球 – play basketball *with classmates in the park*

跟 has two common functions:

1. “with” (preposition)

   • 我 跟 朋友 去看电影。
     – I go to watch a movie with my friend.

2. “and” (linking two nouns)

   • 我 跟 他 都是学生。
     – He and I are both students.

Here, it’s the “with” meaning: I like to play basketball *with classmates*.

Yes, you can say:

• 周末我喜欢和同学在公园打篮球。

跟 and 和 overlap a lot:

• Both can mean “and” (A and B)
• Both can mean “with”

General tendencies:

• 跟: slightly more colloquial and very common in speech
• 和: slightly more neutral / formal, common in both speaking and writing

In everyday conversation, 跟同学 and 和同学 are practically interchangeable in this sentence.

在 marks the location where an action happens.

Structure:

在 + place + Verb (+ Object)

Examples:

• 我 在家 学中文。 – I study Chinese at home.
• 她 在公司 上班。 – She works at a company.
• 我们 在公园 打篮球。 – We play basketball in the park.

So 在公园打篮球 literally is “at-the-park play-basketball.”

Normally, no. The natural order is:

在 + place + Verb + Object
在公园打篮球

Putting the place phrase at the end:

• ✗ 我喜欢打篮球在公园。 – sounds unnatural.

The only time you might move 在公园 to the end is for strong emphasis or contrast, like answering a question:

• A: 你在学校打篮球吗？ – Do you play basketball at school?
• B: 不，我打篮球 在公园。 – No, I play basketball in the park.

But in a neutral sentence, say:

• 我喜欢在公园打篮球。

For many sports, Chinese uses specific verbs instead of a general “play”:

• 打篮球 – play basketball
• 打网球 – play tennis
• 打羽毛球 – play badminton
• 踢足球 – play soccer (kick football)

打 is used with many ball or racket sports.

玩 means “to play / to have fun / to hang out”, and is used differently:

• 玩游戏 – play games
• 玩手机 – play on your phone
• 在公园玩 – play / hang out in the park

You might occasionally hear 玩篮球 in casual speech, but the standard, correct phrase is 打篮球.

Yes. A common pattern is:

喜欢 + Verb (+ Object) = “to like doing …”

Examples:

• 我 喜欢吃 中国菜。 – I like eating Chinese food.
• 她 喜欢看 电影。 – She likes watching movies.
• 他们 喜欢打 篮球。 – They like playing basketball.

So in your sentence:

• 我喜欢跟同学在公园打篮球。
  = I like playing basketball with classmates in the park.

You don’t need an extra word like “to” or “-ing”; just put the verb phrase directly after 喜欢.

Both 喜欢 and 爱 can be translated as “like / love,” but they are used differently:

• 喜欢: like, be fond of

  • 我喜欢打篮球。 – I like playing basketball.
  • 他喜欢喝咖啡。 – He likes drinking coffee.

• 爱: love (stronger, deeper feeling)

  • 我爱家人。 – I love my family.
  • 她爱他。 – She loves him.

For hobbies, interests, and activities, use 喜欢, not 爱.
So 我爱跟同学在公园打篮球 sounds overly strong/odd; 我喜欢… is natural.

Chinese doesn’t use verb tense like English (no -ed, -s, or “will”).
Instead, it uses:

• Time words (周末, 昨天, 明天…)
• Aspect markers (了, 过, 着, 在…)
• Context

Here:

• 周末 suggests a repeated / habitual action.
• 喜欢 also naturally describes general preferences / habits.

So the default interpretation is:

• 周末，我喜欢跟同学在公园打篮球。
  → On weekends, I (habitually) like to play basketball with my classmates in the park.

You wouldn’t add 了 here, because you’re not talking about a completed one-time event, but a general preference.

In Chinese, nouns usually do not show plural:

• 同学 can mean classmate or classmates, depending on context.

Reasons we understand it as plural here:

• Playing basketball is usually done with more than one person.
• There is no number word like 一个 / 两个, so it’s just a general group: “classmates.”

们 is mainly used:

1. With personal pronouns:

   • 我 → 我们 – I → we
   • 你 → 你们 – you (sg) → you (pl)
   • 他 → 他们 – he → they

2. With people words when talking to / about them as a group:

   • 同学们好！– Hello, students! (teacher addressing the whole class)
   • 老师们 – the teachers (as a group)

So:

• 跟同学打篮球 – play basketball with classmates (general)
• 跟同学们打篮球 – also okay, but emphasizes the group as a whole (often in a more formal, “our classmates” sense).

You need a measure word when you:

• Specify a number, or
• Use a demonstrative (this/that)

For example:

• 一个同学 – one classmate
• 三个同学 – three classmates
• 那个同学 – that classmate
• 这些同学 – these classmates

But in your sentence, it’s unspecified and general:

• 跟同学在公园打篮球 – with classmates (no specific number)

In that case, no measure word is needed.