Breakdown of yīnwèi jīntiān dǎzhé, wǒ hé tā zài chāoshì gòuwù le hěn jiǔ.
Used after a verb. Marks that an action is completed.
Questions & Answers about yīnwèi jīntiān dǎzhé, wǒ hé tā zài chāoshì gòuwù le hěn jiǔ.
Chinese has a very common because–so pattern:
- 因为 A，所以 B – Because A, so B.
In your sentence we only see the 因为 part:
- 因为今天打折， 我和她在超市购物了很久。
Because there was a sale today, she and I shopped in the supermarket for a long time.
This is completely natural. In modern Chinese you can have:
- 因为 A，所以 B – both words used
- 因为 A，B – only 因为 used (like your sentence)
- A，所以 B – only 所以 used
What you cannot normally do is put 因为 in front of a clause and then not give the result:
- ✗ 因为今天打折。 (incomplete on its own)
So the sentence is fine without 所以 because the result clause 我和她在超市购物了很久 is clearly there after the comma.
Literally, 今天打折 is “today there is a discount / sale”.
Chinese often omits the subject when it is obvious from context.
Possible fuller versions are:
- 超市今天打折。 – The supermarket has discounts today.
- 商场今天打折。 – The mall has a sale today.
- 他们今天打折。 – They are offering a discount today.
In everyday speech, when you are already talking about a store or a place, people just say:
- 今天打折
- 今天有打折
and the listener infers that “the store / this place” is doing it.
So 今天打折 is a very natural shorthand; the logical subject (the supermarket) is simply omitted.
打折 (dǎzhé) literally means “to apply a discount”, i.e. to sell at less than the original price.
Common uses:
- 打折 – to be on sale / to offer a discount
- 打几折？ – What discount is it? (literally “what-fold discount?”)
- 打八折 – 80% of the original price (i.e. 20% off)
- 打五折 – 50% of the original price (half price)
It can be thought of as both:
- intransitive: 今天打折 – “Stuff is on sale today.”
- transitive: 这家店打折卖衣服 – “This shop sells clothes at a discount.”
In your sentence, 今天打折 is like “there’s a sale today” or “prices are discounted today.”
Both 我和她 and 她和我 are grammatically correct.
There is a tendency in more formal or careful Chinese to put oneself last out of politeness:
- 老师和我 (the teacher and I)
- 你和我 (you and I)
- 他和我 (he and I)
So 她和我在超市购物了很久 might be considered slightly more “polite” or textbook-like.
However, 我和她 is very common in everyday speech and no one will think it is rude. In casual conversation, native speakers freely say:
- 我和他昨天去看电影了。
So you can use either order; the main point is that 和 simply links the two NPs: “X and Y”.
Yes, that is perfectly natural:
- 我和她一起在超市购物了很久。
一起 (yìqǐ) means “together”. Adding it:
- makes the “togetherness” explicit
- often sounds a bit more natural when you want to emphasize doing an activity with someone
Without 一起, the meaning “together” is still strongly implied by 我和她在超市购物了很久, but 一起 highlights it.
So:
- 我和她在超市购物了很久。 – She and I shopped at the supermarket for a long time.
- 我和她一起在超市购物了很久。 – She and I shopped together at the supermarket for a long time. (emphasis)
In 我和她在超市购物了很久, 和 (hé) is a coordinating conjunction meaning “and”:
- 我和她 – she and I
You can also use 跟 (gēn):
- 我跟她在超市购物了很久。
In this kind of “A and B do something together” structure, 和 and 跟 are usually interchangeable. 跟 can sound a bit more colloquial.
So:
- 我和她在超市购物了很久。
- 我跟她在超市购物了很久。
Both are fine and natural.
在 (zài) is marking the location of the action:
- 在超市购物 – to shop at/in the supermarket
Basic pattern:
- 在 + place + Verb(phrase)
Examples:
- 在学校上课 – attend class at school
- 在公司工作 – work at the company
- 在家看电视 – watch TV at home
You cannot normally drop 在 in this pattern:
- ✗ 我和她超市购物了很久。 – unnatural
- ✓ 我和她在超市购物了很久。 – correct
You can also add 里 to make “inside” explicit:
- 我和她在超市里购物了很久。 – We shopped inside the supermarket for a long time.
Both are correct, but they differ slightly in nuance:
- 购物 (gòuwù) – “to shop”, often a bit more general or formal, sometimes with a feeling of going around buying various things (can feel like “shopping” as an activity).
- 买东西 (mǎi dōngxi) – “to buy things”, very everyday and concrete.
Compare:
- 在超市购物 – shop at the supermarket (maybe wandering, browsing, buying various items)
- 在超市买东西 – buy things at the supermarket (very straightforward and colloquial)
Your sentence with 买东西 would be:
- 因为今天打折，我和她在超市买东西买了很久。
(More natural: 买东西买了很久 or 在超市逛了很久，买了很多东西.)
Using 购物 avoids repeating 买, and sounds compact and natural.
The 了 after 购物 is the aspect particle (often called “verb 了”). It marks the action as completed or bounded, not strictly “past tense”.
Structure here:
- Verb + 了 + Duration
购物 + 了 + 很久
This pattern usually means:
- the action actually happened
- it lasted for the amount of time mentioned
- by the reference time, it is finished
So 购物了很久 means “shopped for a long time (and that stretch of shopping is over)”.
Chinese does not have tense (past/present/future) in the same way English does. The fact that it’s past here comes from:
- 今天 (today) plus
- the completed-aspect 了
If you want to emphasize that the activity is still going on, you would use two 了s:
- 我们在超市购物了很久了。
We’ve been shopping in the supermarket for a long time (and we’re still doing it).
There are two different 了 in Chinese:
- Aspect 了 – goes right after the verb or verb phrase
- Sentence 了 – usually at the end of the sentence, marking a change or new situation
In your sentence, 了 is the aspect 了, so it stays with the verb:
- 购物了很久 – shopped for a long time
If you put 了 only at the very end:
- ✗ 我们在超市购物很久了。 (without the first 了, this is not the usual way to say a completed long activity in the past)
To show a long action that is still continuing, you typically use both:
- 我们在超市购物了很久了。
Verb + 了 + Duration + 了
Your sentence only needs the first 了, because it’s describing a finished action.
久 (jiǔ) means “long (time)”.
很 (hěn) is an adverb often translated as “very”, but in many structures it works more like a required linker before adjectives or certain time words.
很久 means “for a long time / a long while”.
In actual usage, 久 very rarely appears alone right after a verb in this kind of duration pattern. Native speakers normally say:
- 等了很久 – waited for a long time
- 聊了很久 – chatted for a long time
- 走了很久 – walked for a long time
- 购物了很久 – shopped for a long time
✗ 购物了久 sounds unnatural or wrong.
So you generally need something like:
- 很久 / 好久 / 很长时间
Examples:
- 购物了好久 – also “shopped for a long time”, with a more colloquial, sometimes slightly emotional tone
- 购物了很长时间 – shopped for a long period of time (a bit more formal/explicit)
As written:
- 因为今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久。
it strongly implies that the shopping session is over:
- completed action marker 了 after 购物
- no second 了 at the end
If you want to say they have been shopping for a long time and are still shopping now, you would normally say:
- 因为今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久了。
That second 了 at the end suggests an ongoing state or a situation that has lasted up to now.
Yes, that is also natural:
- 今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久。
Chinese often uses parataxis (putting clauses next to each other) without explicit connectors. The meaning is still clearly “since / because today there was a sale, we shopped for a long time.”
So you can have:
- 因为今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久。 – explicit “because”
- 今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久。 – more concise, reason just placed first
Both are fine. The version with 因为 sounds a bit more explicit and textbook-like; the version without it is very normal in speech and writing too.
Yes. In Chinese you can place the reason clause either before or after the main clause.
Your sentence with reason first:
- 因为今天打折，我和她在超市购物了很久。
With reason last:
- 我和她在超市购物了很久，因为今天打折。
Both are grammatical. Some nuance:
- Reason first (original): slightly more common in writing and very natural in speech.
- Reason last: often feels like an afterthought or an extra explanation, similar to English “…, because there was a sale”.
So if you want to mirror English word order, 我和她在超市购物了很久，因为今天打折 is fine.
购物 (gòuwù) is treated as a single verb meaning “to shop / go shopping / buy things”.
It is made from:
- 购 – to purchase
- 物 – goods / things
Historically it looks like a verb–object combination, but in modern usage we just treat 购物 as a normal verb. You can:
- add aspect markers: 购物了, 在购物, 去购物
- add complements: 购物了很久, 购物得很开心
So yes, grammatically it behaves like a simple verb, and that is why 购物了很久 fits the pattern Verb + 了 + Duration perfectly.
Here, 今天 is just a time word modifying the whole clause 打折:
- 因为今天打折 – because there is a sale today
You could also say:
- 因为超市今天打折 – because the supermarket is having a sale today
- 因为今天超市打折 – because today the supermarket has a sale
All of these are acceptable. The most neutral and compact is exactly what you have: 因为今天打折.
The position after 因为 just marks the time for the 打折 event; it does not add any special extra meaning beyond “today”.