Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā shuō zìjǐ zuìjìn chángcháng gǎnjué tài lèi, suǒyǐ xiǎng shǎo qù tǐyùguǎn, duō zài jiā xiūxi. - She says she has often been feeling too tired recently, so she wants to go to the gym less and rest more at home.

她说自己最近常常感觉太累 literally: “She says she recently often feels too tired (herself).”
Using 自己 makes it clear that the person who feels tired is the same as the speaker (她), and it sounds very natural and smooth in Chinese.
You could say 她说她最近常常感觉太累, and it’s grammatically OK, but it sounds slightly more repetitive and less natural than using 自己 in this kind of reported speech.

Why is it 最近常常 and not 常常最近? Is there a rule about the order of these adverbs?

In Chinese, time expressions usually come before frequency adverbs, and 最近常常 is a very natural fixed pattern:

最近 = recently (time)
常常 = often (frequency)

So the normal order is:

(subject) + 最近 + 常常 + verb…

常常最近感觉太累 is not natural Chinese; native speakers wouldn’t say that. They might say:

最近总是感觉太累 (最近 + 总是)
她最近常常觉得很累 (她 + 最近 + 常常 + 觉得…)

So: time word (最近) → frequency word (常常) → verb.

What is the difference between 感觉 and 觉得 here? Could we say 觉得 instead?

Both 感觉 and 觉得 can be translated as “feel,” but there is a nuance:

感觉 often leans toward physical or sensory feeling, or a more “felt” state.
觉得 is more about opinion or subjective judgment (“I think / I feel that…”).

In this sentence, she feels too tired, which is a physical/mental state, so 感觉太累 is very natural.

Could you say 觉得太累? Yes, that’s also acceptable and common:

她说自己最近常常觉得太累 is fine and means almost the same in everyday usage.

Why is it 太累 and not 很累? Does 太 always mean “too (excessively)”?

太 means “too / excessively,” and it usually carries a slightly negative or complaining tone:

太累 ≈ “too tired / so tired (that it’s a problem)”
很累 ≈ “very tired” (strong, but more neutral)

In this context, she is tired to the point that she wants to change her behavior (go less to the gym), so 太累 fits well.

Note: in casual speech, people sometimes use 太好啦！太棒了！ with a positive meaning, but with adjectives like tired (累), hot (热), etc., 太 usually keeps the “too much / overly” meaning.

In 想少去体育馆，多在家休息, how exactly do 少 and 多 work? Are they adverbs?

Yes, here 少 (“less”) and 多 (“more”) are acting as adverbs modifying the following verbs:

少去体育馆 = “go to the gym less”
- 少 modifies 去
多在家休息 = “stay at home and rest more”
- 多 modifies the whole phrase 在家休息

So the structure is:

想 + 少 + verb phrase A，多 + verb phrase B

This is a very common pattern to express “do A less, do B more” in Chinese:

少喝咖啡，多喝水。
Drink less coffee, drink more water.
少玩手机，多运动。
Play on your phone less, exercise more.

Could we say 想去体育馆少一点，在家多休息一点 instead? How is that different from 想少去体育馆，多在家休息?

Yes, you can say that, and it’s natural:

想去体育馆少一点，在家多休息一点。

Differences:

Form:
- 少去体育馆 / 多在家休息 uses 少 / 多 directly before the verb/verb phrase.
- 去体育馆少一点 / 多休息一点 uses 少/多 + 一点 after the verb.
Nuance:
- 少去体育馆，多在家休息 sounds a bit more general and compact, like a simple “less of A, more of B” guideline.
- 去体育馆少一点，在家多休息一点 can feel slightly more specific/quantified (“a bit less / a bit more”), thanks to 一点.

Both are correct; it’s mostly a stylistic choice.

Why is it 想 and not 要 before 少去体育馆，多在家休息?

想 and 要 both relate to wanting or intending, but:

想 = to think about / to feel like / to want (softer, more internal)
要 = to want / to be going to (stronger intention, plan, or demand)

In this sentence:

所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息。
→ “So she wants to / is thinking of going to the gym less and resting at home more.”

If you said:

所以要少去体育馆，多在家休息。

It would sound more like a firm decision or plan: “so she is going to go to the gym less and rest more at home.” It’s not wrong, but 想 fits better with the idea of her desire or thought process.

There is no 了 after 感觉. How can this still mean “has been feeling too tired recently”?

Chinese doesn’t need an aspect marker like 了 in all the places English uses “have been …-ing.”

Here, two elements already give you the idea of a recent, ongoing situation:

最近 (“recently”)
常常 (“often”)

Together, 最近常常感觉太累 naturally means “has often been feeling too tired recently” without needing 了.

If you add 了 (e.g. 最近常常感觉太累了), it tastes more like highlighting the current state or a complaint (“I’m really too tired lately!”), but it’s not required for the basic meaning.

In 多在家休息, can we drop 在 and just say 多家休息?

No, 多家休息 is not grammatical.

在 is needed to mark the location: “at / in (a place).”
在家 = “at home”

So:

多在家休息 = “rest at home more”
If you remove 在, 家 becomes a bare noun (“home”) without a function word, and the phrase breaks.

Correct patterns:

在家休息 (rest at home)
在公司工作 (work at the company)
在学校学习 (study at school)

What is the nuance of 体育馆 here? Is this the same as “gym” in English?

体育馆 (tǐyùguǎn) literally means “sports hall / sports stadium / gymnasium.” In real life:

体育馆 often refers to:
- a big indoor sports hall
- a stadium or public sports facility
For a modern workout gym/fitness center, 健身房 (jiànshēnfáng) is more common.

However, in textbooks and learner materials, 体育馆 is often used as the standard word for “gym” (a place you go to exercise). In that context, it’s perfectly fine to understand it as “gym.”

Why is 所以 placed at the start of the second part: 所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息? Could it be in the middle instead?

所以 is a conjunction meaning “so / therefore,” and it usually comes at the beginning of the result clause:

Reason …，所以 + result …

So here:

她说自己最近常常感觉太累，
She says she has been feeling too tired recently,
所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息。
so she wants to go to the gym less and rest more at home.

Putting 所以 in the middle of the clause (e.g. 想所以少去体育馆) is ungrammatical. It always directly introduces the result, not the verb alone.

Why is there just a comma before 所以, and not a word like “and” or “then”?

Chinese often uses commas where English might use a conjunction like “and,” “so,” or “then.”

In this sentence, the structure is:

clause 1 (reason): 她说自己最近常常感觉太累，
clause 2 (result, introduced by 所以): 所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息。

The comma simply separates the two clauses. 所以 itself functions like “so,” so you don’t need 和 (“and”) or 然后 (“then”).

If you said:

她说自己最近常常感觉太累，然后想少去体育馆，多在家休息。

it would sound more like a sequence of events (“then she wanted…”), whereas 所以 clearly marks a cause–effect relationship.

Why is this reported as 她说自己… without quotation marks, instead of 她说：“我最近常常感觉太累，所以…”?

Chinese has two common ways to report speech:

Indirect speech (what this sentence uses):
- 她说自己最近常常感觉太累，所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息。
- No quotation marks; pronouns and sometimes tense are adjusted (她 → 自己).
Direct speech:
- 她说：“我最近常常感觉太累，所以想少去体育馆，多在家休息。”
- This quotes her exact words, with 我 instead of 自己.

Both are correct. The original is indirect speech, which is very natural in narration and summary.