Learn Hardcore Chinese: jīntiān tàiyáng hěn dà, háizi zài gōngyuán chī bīngqílín de shíhou dài zhe màozi. - The sun is very strong today; when the child eats ice cream in the park, she wears a hat.

It describes how the sun feels (strong glare, strong heat) rather than its physical size. This is a common idiomatic usage, so 今天太阳很大 is naturally understood as “The sun is really strong today” / “It’s very sunny today.”

What exactly is the function of 很 in 今天太阳很大? Does it always mean “very”?

很 (hěn) has two roles in sentences like this:

Grammatical link:
In Subject + 很 + Adjective, 很 often functions as a neutral linker between the subject and the adjective, similar to “is”:
- 太阳很大 ≈ “The sun is big.”
In beginner-friendly explanations you’ll hear “很 means ‘very’,” but in many simple descriptions it doesn’t feel as strong as “very” in English.
Degree marker (“very/quite”):
In this particular sentence, 今天太阳很大, the 很 does add some real emphasis, like “really/quite.” Context (and tone of voice) makes it sound closer to:
- “The sun is really strong today.”

Also, plain 太阳大 (without 很) is possible but tends to sound more like a comparison (“The sun is big (as opposed to small)”), or like a more marked, less neutral sentence. For a natural description, 太阳很大 is the default.

Where is the “was” in “the child was wearing a hat”? How is past tense shown in 戴着帽子?

Chinese generally does not use verb forms to show tense like English does. There is no direct equivalent of “was”:

戴着帽子 literally: “wearing hat” / “(is/was) with a hat on”

Past time is understood from context, especially from time expressions like:

今天 – today
or from the overall situation / narrative

So:

今天太阳很大，孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候戴着帽子。
≈ “The sun was very strong today, and the child was wearing a hat while eating ice cream in the park.”

Chinese speakers don’t need to add a separate past marker; the listener infers it from the situation and time words.

What does 着 in 戴着帽子 do? How is that different from just 戴帽子 or 戴了帽子?

着 (zhe) is an aspect particle that shows a continuous state. With 戴 (“to wear [on head/hands]”), it works like this:

戴着帽子
= “(is/was) wearing a hat”
Focus: the ongoing state of having the hat on.

Compare:

戴帽子
- Can be a general/habitual description: “(to) wear a hat / wearing a hat (as a characteristic)”
- Less clearly emphasizes the ongoing state at that specific time.
戴了帽子
- Often implies a completed action: “(has) put on a hat” or “(did) wear a hat” at some point.
- Focus is on the act of putting it on, or the fact that the event occurred.

In this sentence, 戴着帽子 is ideal because it describes what was true during the time the child was eating ice cream: the hat was on their head that whole time.

Why do we use 戴 for the hat and not another verb like 穿?

Chinese uses different verbs for wearing different kinds of things:

戴 (dài): for things on the head / face / hands
- 戴帽子 – wear a hat
- 戴眼镜 – wear glasses
- 戴手套 – wear gloves
穿 (chuān): for clothes and shoes
- 穿衣服 – wear clothes
- 穿裤子 – wear pants
- 穿鞋 – wear shoes
系 (jì): for tying / fastening things
- 系领带 – wear a tie
- 系安全带 – fasten/wear a seat belt

So 帽子 goes with 戴, so 戴着帽子 is the correct combination.

How does 在公园吃冰淇淋的时候 work? What is the function of 的时候 here?

…的时候 (…de shíhou) means “when / while …” and introduces a time frame. The structure is:

[clause] + 的时候 = “when/while [clause]”

In this sentence:

在公园吃冰淇淋 = “(to) eat ice cream in the park”
在公园吃冰淇淋的时候 = “when (the child was) eating ice cream in the park” / “while eating ice cream in the park”

So the whole part:

孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候戴着帽子。
literally: “The child, when (he/she) was eating ice cream in the park, was wearing a hat.”

的时候 clearly marks that 戴着帽子 happened during that activity/time.

What is the role of 在 in 孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候? Is it a location marker or a progressive marker?

Here, 在 is a location marker, not a progressive marker.

在 + place = “at/in [place]”

So:

在公园吃冰淇淋
= “eat ice cream in the park”

在 can also mark progressive aspect when followed by a verb directly (e.g. 在吃饭 “is eating”), but here it is followed by 公园 (a place), so it simply tells you where the action is happening. The “while/when” sense comes from 的时候, not from 在.

Why is there a 的 after 冰淇淋 in 吃冰淇淋的时候?

In 吃冰淇淋的时候, the 的 links the verb phrase to 时候:

吃冰淇淋的 (the time of eating ice cream)
时候 (time, moment)

So 吃冰淇淋的时候 literally means “the time of eating ice cream,” which is equivalent to “when [someone] eats/was eating ice cream.”

Pattern:

[Action] + 的时候 → “when [action] happens / while [action] is taking place”

Examples:

我回家的时候 – when I go home / when I was going home
下雨的时候 – when it rains / when it was raining

Can we change the word order to 孩子戴着帽子在公园吃冰淇淋? Is that still correct?

Yes, this is also correct, and quite natural:

孩子戴着帽子在公园吃冰淇淋。
= “The child, wearing a hat, ate (was eating) ice cream in the park.”

Differences in feel:

孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候戴着帽子。
- Emphasis is on the time frame: “When the child was eating ice cream in the park, they were wearing a hat.”
- 的时候 makes the ice-cream-eating + park setting into a background time.
孩子戴着帽子在公园吃冰淇淋。
- More straightforward sequence of actions/roles: subject + (state) + place + action.
- Feels a bit more like a simple description: “The child, wearing a hat, ate ice cream in the park.”

Both are grammatical; the original with 的时候 stresses the “while/when” relationship more explicitly.

Why is there no measure word like 一个孩子, 一顶帽子, or 一个冰淇淋?

Chinese uses measure words (classifiers) only when a specific number or quantity is mentioned. If you’re just talking about something in a general or non-counted way, you normally omit the measure word.

In this sentence:

孩子 – “the child / children” (general reference)
帽子 – “a hat / the hat” (general; context implies it’s just “the hat they’re wearing”)
冰淇淋 – “ice cream / an ice cream” (again, general)

If you needed to be more specific, you could add measure words, for example:

一个孩子 – one child
一顶帽子 – one hat
一个冰淇淋 – one ice cream (e.g., one ice cream cone)

But here the exact number isn’t important, so plain nouns are used.

Does 孩子 here mean “child” (singular) or “children” (plural)? How can you tell?

Chinese nouns usually do not mark singular vs. plural. 孩子 can mean:

“child”
“children”
“kid(s)”

Which one is meant depends on context:

If the context is clearly about one child, readers will understand it as “the child.”
If the context is about a group, it can be “the children.”

In this isolated sentence, both “the child” and “children” are possible translations. Many learners default to “the child” in singular just because English often prefers a singular if the number is unclear. If the speaker wanted to clearly indicate plural, they could say 孩子们 (“children”).

Could we say 太阳今天很大 instead of 今天太阳很大? Is there a difference?

Both are grammatical:

今天太阳很大。
太阳今天很大。

The difference is mainly focus and naturalness:

今天太阳很大
- Very common, neutral word order.
- Start with the time: “Today, the sun is very strong.”
太阳今天很大
- Puts slightly more emphasis on the sun first.
- Still okay, just slightly less neutral in everyday speech.

In practice, 今天 + [rest of sentence] is a very common pattern for daily descriptions, so 今天太阳很大 feels more typical.

Is there any conjunction like “so” or “because” between the two parts of the sentence? How are they related?

The sentence is:

今天太阳很大，孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候戴着帽子。

There’s just a comma, no explicit conjunction like 因为 (because) or 所以 (so). The logical connection is understood from context:

“The sun is very strong today, (so) the child was wearing a hat while eating ice cream in the park.”

If you wanted to make the causal link explicit, you could say:

因为今天太阳很大，所以孩子在公园吃冰淇淋的时候戴着帽子。
= “Because the sun is very strong today, therefore the child was wearing a hat when eating ice cream in the park.”

But in natural speech/writing, Chinese often leaves such links implicit and just uses a comma. The listener infers the relationship.