Breakdown of zhōumò wǒ hé péngyou zài gōngyuán yìqǐ pǎobù.
Questions & Answers about zhōumò wǒ hé péngyou zài gōngyuán yìqǐ pǎobù.
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.
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.
Chinese often drops possessive words like 我的 (“my”) when the owner is clear from context.
- 我 和 朋友 在公园一起跑步。
Because the subject is 我 (“I”), it is natural to understand 朋友 here as “my friend(s)”.
If you really need to be explicit—for example, to contrast my friends with your friends—you can say:
- 我 和 我的朋友 在公园一起跑步。 – I run in the park with my friend(s).
- 我 和 你 的朋友 在公园一起跑步。 – I run in the park with your friend(s).
In ordinary sentences, Chinese relies heavily on context, so “my” is often just understood rather than spoken.
们 is a plural marker mainly used with:
- Pronouns: 我 → 我们, 你 → 你们, 他 → 他们, etc.
- Certain nouns referring to people, when you want to emphasize a specific group: 同学们, 老师们, 朋友们.
However, for common nouns like 朋友, the plural is often simply understood from context. You do not need 们 to make it plural.
- 我和朋友在公园一起跑步。
This can mean “I run with a friend” or “I run with friends.”
朋友们 is used, for example, when addressing a group or emphasizing that it is a group:
- 亲爱的朋友们！ – Dear friends!
- 我想感谢在座的朋友们。 – I want to thank the friends here.
In your sentence, the natural, everyday form is just 朋友.
You only need a measure word when you:
- Specify the number/quantity, or
- Say “a certain number of” something.
Examples:
- 一个朋友 – one friend
- 两个朋友 – two friends
- 几个朋友 – a few friends
- 很多个朋友 – many friends
If you are speaking in a general way, without specifying how many, you usually do not add a measure word:
- 我和朋友在公园一起跑步。 – I run in the park with (a) friend/friends.
- 我喜欢和朋友聊天。 – I like chatting with friends.
So in your sentence, leaving out the measure word is normal and natural.
Here 在 is a preposition (or coverb) that marks location:
- 在 公园 – at / in the park
The basic pattern is:
- 在 + place + Verb
我 在 公园 跑步。 – I run in the park.
If you drop 在, the sentence becomes ungrammatical or at least very unnatural in standard Mandarin. You need something to show the relationship “(do something) at (a place)”, and that is what 在 does.
Compare:
- 我在公园跑步。 – I run in the park.
- 我去公园跑步。 – I go to the park (in order) to run.
So 在 means you are located there; 去 focuses on going there. You cannot simply omit 在 in your original sentence.
一起 means “together”. It is an adverb placed close to the verb:
- 我 和 朋友 在公园 一起 跑步。 – I run together with (my) friend(s) in the park.
You can move 一起 a bit, as long as it stays near the verb phrase. Common variants:
- 我 和 朋友 一起 在公园 跑步。
- 我 和 朋友 在公园 一起 跑步。 ✅ (your sentence)
Both are natural.
A very common synonym is 一块儿 (north/Northern-style colloquial, often pronounced yíkuàr):
- 我和朋友在公园一块儿跑步。
Meaning and usage are essentially the same as 一起 in this context.
跑步 is a verb–object structure:
- 跑 – to run
- 步 – step(s)
Together: 跑步 – to run (for exercise / as an activity, to jog)
In your sentence:
- 我和朋友在公园一起跑步。
This suggests running/jogging as exercise or a sport, which fits well with “go running in the park.”
跑 by itself just means “to run” and is not necessarily a sport or exercise; it can be any kind of running:
- 孩子在公园里跑。 – The child is running in the park.
- 快跑！ – Run quickly! (e.g., escape)
You could say:
- 我和朋友在公园一起跑。
This is grammatical, but it sounds more like “we run around in the park” in a general sense, and less like describing a regular jogging/running workout. For describing the activity of “going for a run,” 跑步 is the standard choice.
Chinese verbs normally do not change form to show tense (past, present, future). Instead, Chinese uses:
- Time words: 周末, 昨天, 明天, 上个周末, etc.
- Aspect particles: 了, 过, 着, etc.
- Context.
Your sentence:
- 周末我和朋友在公园一起跑步。
Most naturally describes a habitual action: On weekends, I run with friends in the park. The use of plain 周末 (without 上个/这个/下个) and no 了 suggests a general, repeated action.
To make it clearly about last weekend as a completed event, you might say:
- 上个周末，我和朋友在公园一起跑步了。
Last weekend, I ran with friends in the park.
To make it future, you might say:
- 这个周末，我要和朋友在公园一起跑步。
This weekend I am going to run with friends in the park.
So the same basic sentence can refer to different times; nuance comes from time words and particles, not verb inflection.
Yes. A very common pattern is:
Time + Subject + 跟/和 + Person + 在 + Place + (一起/一块儿) + Verb (Object)
Your sentence fits this pattern perfectly:
- 周末 – Time
- 我 – Subject
- 和 朋友 – with whom
- 在 公园 – where
- 一起 跑步 – do what (together run / go running)
You can reuse this structure for many similar sentences:
晚上 我 跟 同学 在 图书馆 一起 学习。
In the evening I study together with classmates in the library.明天 我们 和 老师 在 教室 一起 上课。
Tomorrow we will have class together with the teacher in the classroom.
Learning this pattern makes it much easier to build natural Chinese sentences with time, companions, place, and activity.