zhōumò wǒ hé péngyou zài gōngyuán yìqǐ pǎobù.

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Breakdown of zhōumò wǒ hé péngyou zài gōngyuán yìqǐ pǎobù.

• 和hé: and
• 朋友péngyou: friend
• 在zài: at

Questions & Answers about zhōumò wǒ hé péngyou zài gōngyuán yìqǐ pǎobù.

Why does 周末 come at the beginning of the sentence without a word like “on” (as in “on weekends”)?

Chinese usually puts time expressions near the beginning of the sentence, often right before the subject:

• 周末 我 和朋友 在公园 一起跑步。
  Time → Subject → … → Verb

You do not need a preposition like “on” here. 周末 alone already means “(at/on) the weekend” in this position.

You can add something if you want to be a bit more explicit:

• 在周末，我和朋友在公园一起跑步。
• 周末的时候，我和朋友在公园一起跑步。

But in everyday speech, 周末 by itself at the front is perfectly natural and very common.

What does 和 mean here, and can I use 跟 instead of 和?

In this sentence 和 means “with”:

• 我 和 朋友 在公园一起跑步。
  I (together) with (my) friend(s) run in the park.

You can almost always replace 和 with 跟 when it means “with someone”:

• 我 跟 朋友 在公园一起跑步。

Both are correct. Roughly:

• 和 – a bit more neutral / formal, common in writing but also used in speech.
• 跟 – very common in everyday spoken Chinese, a bit more colloquial.

In this sentence, either 和 or 跟 is fine and the meaning does not really change.

There is no “my” before 朋友. How do we know it means “my friend(s)” and not “the friend” or “a friend”?