Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǎnfàn de shíhou wǒmen chángcháng hē yìdiǎnr tāng. - At dinner time we often drink a bit of soup.

Here, 的 doesn’t show possession in the usual “my/your” sense; it links the noun 晚饭 to 时候 to form a phrase meaning “the time of dinner.” You can treat X 的时候 as a chunk meaning “when X happens / at the time of X.”

Could I also say 在晚饭的时候? Is 在 necessary?

You can say 在晚饭的时候, but 在 is not necessary.

晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。 – very natural, common
在晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。 – also correct, a bit more explicit/emphatic about the time

In everyday speech, people often drop 在 before …的时候 because the time relationship is already clear. Adding 在 is more like saying “at the time of dinner” in a slightly more formal or explicit way.

Why is the time phrase 晚饭的时候 at the beginning? Could I move it?

Chinese often puts time expressions early in the sentence, before the subject or right after the subject.

Your sentence:

晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。
– time → subject → adverb → verb → object

Common alternatives:

我们在晚饭的时候常常喝一点儿汤。
我们晚饭的时候常常喝一点儿汤。

All are grammatical. Differences are subtle:

Putting 晚饭的时候 at the very start emphasizes when.
Putting it after 我们 emphasizes we, then specifies “at dinner time.”

You can’t put it after the verb in this sentence:

✗ 我们常常喝晚饭的时候一点儿汤。 – incorrect

What does 常常 add? Is it the same as 经常 or 常?

常常 is an adverb meaning often / frequently. It signals a habit or regular action.

Similar words:

经常 – also “often,” very common and maybe slightly more formal in some contexts
常 – a shorter, somewhat more literary or concise version in many cases

In this sentence:

我们常常喝一点儿汤。
我们经常喝一点儿汤。
我们常喝一点儿汤。

All three are acceptable and close in meaning. Very roughly:

常常 / 经常 – everyday speech, very common
常 – a little more compact and can sound slightly more formal or written, but also used in speech

In terms of grammar, they all go before the main verb:

我们常常/经常/常喝汤。

Why do you 喝 soup in Chinese instead of 吃 soup like in English?

In Chinese:

喝 is used for drinks / liquids.
吃 is used for solid food.

Soup (汤) is considered a liquid in Chinese, so you:

喝汤 – “drink soup”

This is just a difference in collocation between English and Chinese. Even if there are pieces in the soup, the verb is still 喝 because the base is liquid. Similarly:

喝水 – drink water
喝茶 – drink tea
吃米饭 – eat rice
吃面条 – eat noodles

Why is there no measure word between 一点儿 and 汤? Shouldn’t it be something like “a bowl of soup”?

一点儿 here works like “a little (amount of)”, similar to English “some” or “a bit of.” With 一点儿 + noun, you don’t need an extra measure word for mass nouns.

So:

喝一点儿汤 – drink a little soup
(literally: drink a little-(amount-of) soup)

If you want to be specific about containers or units, then you use a measure word:

喝一碗汤 – drink one bowl of soup
喝两杯汤 – drink two cups of soup

In your sentence, the focus is on a small, vague amount, not on a specific bowl or cup, so 一点儿汤 without another measure word is natural.

What’s the difference between 一点儿汤 and 一些汤?

Both refer to a non-specific, small quantity, but there’s a nuance:

一点儿汤
- usually feels like “a little (not much)”
- can subtly imply “only a small amount”
一些汤
- more like “some soup”, neutral about how much
- doesn’t emphasize “smallness” as strongly

In your sentence:

喝一点儿汤 focuses on a small amount, maybe for taste or health.
喝一些汤 just says “drink some soup” without highlighting that it’s a particularly small amount.

Both are grammatically fine; 一点儿 matches the “a bit of soup” feel more closely.

What is the difference between 一点儿汤 and 有点儿汤?

Big difference:

一点儿 + noun – “a little (amount of) noun”
- 一点儿汤 – a little soup
有点儿 + adjective/verb – “a bit too / somewhat …” (usually negative or undesired)
- 汤有点儿咸。 – The soup is a bit (too) salty.
- 我有点儿累。 – I’m a bit tired.

You normally do not use 有点儿 + noun for quantity:

✗ 有点儿汤 (by itself) to mean “there is a little soup” is not natural.
You’d say:
- 有一点儿汤。
- or 还有一点儿汤。 – There’s still a little soup.

So in your sentence, 一点儿汤 is correct; 有点儿汤 would be wrong.

What does the 儿 in 一点儿 do? Can I just say 一点?

儿 (r) here is the “er-hua” sound — a regional pronunciation feature common in Beijing and the north of China.

一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) – northern / standard in Beijing-accent speech
一点 (yìdiǎn) – more common in southern speech; perfectly correct

In standard Mandarin teaching materials, 一点儿 is very common, but in actual use:

Northern speakers: tend to say 一点儿
Southern speakers: tend to say 一点

Meaning and grammar are the same. You can treat them as variants of the same word.

Could we use 时 instead of 时候? What is the difference?

Sometimes 时 can replace 时候, but 时候 is more common and more colloquial.

晚饭的时候 – very natural, everyday speech
晚饭时 – more concise, can sound a bit more formal or written

Your sentence with 时:

晚饭时我们常常喝一点儿汤。 – grammatical, sounds slightly more formal/literary.

In conversation and beginner-level Chinese, 时候 is safer and more common. You’ll mostly see 时 in more formal writing or set phrases (e.g. 平时, 及时).

How does this sentence express time? How would I say “we often drank” or “we will often drink” soup?

Chinese verbs don’t change form for tense (past/present/future). The sentence:

晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。

can mean:

“We often drink a little soup at dinner (in general / habitually).”
In a suitable narrative context, it can also be understood as “We used to often drink a little soup at dinner.”

To make time clearer, you add time words, not verb endings:

Past / “used to” (context of the past)
- 以前晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。
  – Before, at dinnertime we often drank a little soup.
Future / “will often”
- 以后晚饭的时候我们也会常常喝一点儿汤。
  – In the future / from now on, we’ll also often drink a little soup.
- Using 会 adds the “will” sense.

So the basic sentence stays the same; time is shown by words like 以前, 以后, 明天, 会 etc.

Where can 常常 go in the sentence? Can I move it around?

常常 is an adverb of frequency. It normally goes before the main verb, but you have some flexibility with the surrounding phrases:

Acceptable positions:

晚饭的时候我们常常喝一点儿汤。
晚饭的时候我们喝汤，常常喝一点儿。 (two clauses; slightly different rhythm)
我们晚饭的时候常常喝一点儿汤。
我们常常在晚饭的时候喝一点儿汤。

Key rules:

It usually comes after the subject.
It usually comes before the main verb (喝 here).

You don’t put 常常 after the verb in one simple clause:

✗ 我们喝常常一点儿汤。 – incorrect

Could I drop 们 and just say 我晚饭的时候常常喝一点儿汤?

Yes. 我晚饭的时候常常喝一点儿汤。 is perfectly natural and means “At dinner time, I often drink a little soup.”

The original:

我们 – “we”

Your version:

我 – “I”

Chinese doesn’t require 们 for plural in all cases; it’s only used for pronouns (我 → 我们, 你 → 你们, 他 → 他们, etc.). For this sentence:

Use 我 when you mean “I”.
Use 我们 when you really mean “we / our family / our group.”

Grammatically, both are fine; it just changes who is doing the action.

Any pronunciation or tone issues I should watch out for in this sentence?

Key points:

一点儿 (yìdiǎnr)
- 一 changes tone: before a 3rd tone (点 diǎn), it’s normally pronounced yì (4th tone).
- So: yì-diǎn-r (4–3–neutral).
时候 (shíhou)
- 时 shí – 2nd tone
- 候 hou – neutral tone; don’t stress it as a full 4th tone.
常常 (chángcháng)
- Both are 2nd tone; make sure the rising tone is clear each time.
Syllable stress
- Content words like 晚饭, 我们, 常常, 喝, 汤 are a bit more stressed;
- Function words and 儿, 的, 时候 often have lighter, shorter pronunciation.

Putting it all together smoothly:

wǎn fàn de shíhou wǒmen chángcháng hē yìdiǎnr tāng

Pay special attention to neutral tones (like de, hou, r) being lighter and shorter.