Breakdown of tā shàngbān de shíhou yìbān chuān hēisè kùzi hé báisè yīfu.
Questions & Answers about tā shàngbān de shíhou yìbān chuān hēisè kùzi hé báisè yīfu.
的 here turns the verb phrase 上班 (“to be at work / to work”) into something that can directly modify 时候 (“time, moment”).
- 上班的时候 literally = “the time of (him) working” → “when he is at work”.
- Structure: [verb / verb phrase] + 的 + 时候 = “when (doing X)”.
Without 的, 上班时候 sounds incomplete or wrong. You almost always need 的 in this pattern:
- 看电视的时候 (when (I) watch TV)
- 吃饭的时候 (when (we) eat)
In this sentence, 上班的时候 most naturally means “when he is at work / during work time”, not “on the way to work”.
- 上班 by itself can mean “to be working / to be on duty” in context.
- If you wanted to emphasize “on the way to work / when he goes to work”, you’d usually say 去上班的时候.
So:
- 他上班的时候一般穿… = When he is at work, he usually wears…
- 他去上班的时候一般穿… = When he goes to work, he usually wears… (on the way there or for that occasion)
一般 here is an adverb meaning “usually / generally”. In Chinese, adverbs normally go before the main verb they modify.
- Main verb in this clause: 穿 (to wear)
- So we get: 他上班的时候 一般穿 …
You could move it slightly, but the meaning or naturalness changes:
他一般上班的时候穿黑色裤子…
Sounds like “He usually, when at work, wears…”, slightly emphasizing “usually” as modifying the whole “when-at-work” situation. Grammatically OK but a bit less straightforward.上班的时候，他一般穿黑色裤子和白色衣服。
Also natural. Now the time phrase is fronted; 一般 still goes right before 穿.
The safest pattern to remember:
Subject + (time phrase) + 一般 + Verb…
Each option is possible but has a slightly different nuance:
穿 (bare verb)
Used for habits / general facts. That’s exactly what this sentence is: a routine or usual behavior.穿着
Emphasizes a state of wearing at a particular time:
他上班的时候一般穿着黑色裤子… would sound more like describing his usual appearance in a slightly more descriptive or written style, but the basic meaning is similar.会穿
Would sound like “will (tend to) wear / is likely to wear”.
他上班的时候一般会穿黑色裤子… also works, but adds a sense of “tendency” or “he’ll usually end up wearing…”.
For simple “He usually wears…”, bare 穿 is the most neutral and common choice.
You can say 他在上班的时候一般穿…, and it’s grammatical, but 在 is not required.
他上班的时候一般穿…
Already means “When he is at work, he usually wears…”.他在上班的时候一般穿…
Adds a slight emphasis on that ongoing state “while he is working”. It can feel a bit more explicit or formal, but the difference is small.
In many [verb] + 的时候 expressions, adding 在 is optional:
- 我读书的时候 = When I study
- 我在读书的时候 = While I am (in the process of) studying
Both are acceptable; the shorter version is more common in everyday speech.
In this sentence, we’re talking about what he typically wears in general, not one specific pair of pants or one specific shirt at one time. In Chinese, when you talk about a general category or habitual clothing, you can often omit the number + measure word.
- 黑色裤子 = black pants (as a kind of clothing he wears)
- 白色衣服 = white clothes / a white top
If you want to be specific about one item, then you use number + measure:
- 一条黑色的裤子 (one pair of black pants)
- 一件白色的衣服 (one white piece of clothing/top)
But for a habitual outfit description, without focus on exact quantity, omitting the measure word is very natural.
Both 黑色裤子 and 黑色的裤子 are correct.
In Chinese, 的 is often omitted when:
- The adjective is relatively short and simple; and
- The noun and adjective form a tight conceptual pair (like “black pants”, “Chinese people”, etc.), especially in casual speech.
So:
- 黑色裤子 / 黑裤子 (both natural)
- 黑色的裤子 (a bit more explicit, slightly more formal or careful)
Same for:
- 白色衣服 / 白衣服
- 白色的衣服
You can think of it somewhat like English “black pants” vs “pants that are black” — both possible, but the shorter phrase is more common in everyday speech.
Chinese usually doesn’t mark singular vs plural on nouns the way English does.
- 裤子 literally refers to “pants / trousers” as an item (which by nature is a pair).
- From context it can mean “a pair of pants” or “pants in general”.
When you need to count, you add a measure word:
- 一条裤子 = one pair of pants
- 两条裤子 = two pairs of pants
In this sentence, 黑色裤子 just means “black pants” as the kind of thing he wears, without focusing on number.
Both are translated as “to wear” in English, but they’re used for different things:
穿: clothing on the main parts of the body
- 穿衣服 (wear clothes)
- 穿裤子 (wear pants)
- 穿鞋 (wear shoes)
戴: accessories, things you “put on” but are not basic garments
- 戴帽子 (wear a hat)
- 戴眼镜 (wear glasses)
- 戴手表 (wear a watch)
Since 裤子 and 衣服 are main clothing items, 穿 is the correct verb.
和 connects the two things he wears, just like “and” in English:
- 黑色裤子 和 白色衣服 = black pants and white clothes/top.
You could also say:
- 黑色裤子跟白色衣服 (using 跟 instead of 和)
跟 here works similarly to 和 and is common in spoken Chinese.
You cannot simply drop the connector without changing the structure; you’d get:
- 黑色裤子白色衣服 — this sounds like a list with no clear relationship; it’s not natural as a direct replacement.
So you should keep 和 (or 跟) to express “and” between two separate clothing items.
Yes. Both word orders are natural:
- 他上班的时候一般穿黑色裤子和白色衣服。
- 上班的时候，他一般穿黑色裤子和白色衣服。
Chinese often puts time expressions either:
- right after the subject, or
- at the very beginning of the sentence.
Meaning doesn’t change; the second version simply fronts the time phrase for emphasis or style, just like English “When he is at work, …”.
衣服 is a general word meaning “clothes / clothing”. Context narrows it down.
In this sentence, with 裤子 already mentioned, 白色衣服 will usually be understood as a white top / white shirt / white upper garment that goes with the pants.
If you wanted to be specific, you could say:
- 白色衬衫 = white dress shirt
- 白色上衣 = white top / jacket (upper garment in general)
But 白色衣服 is fine as a generic way to say “white clothes (on top)”.