Learn Hardcore Chinese: yǒuxiē guānzhòng shì niánqīng rén, yě yǒu dài háizi lái de bàba māma. - Some audience members are young people, and there are also moms and dads who bring their children.

一些 is the most neutral “some; a few.”
有些 can sometimes sound a bit more “selective” or “partial,” like “there are some (who are…)” and is common when you then describe a characteristic, as in 有些人很内向 (“some people are introverted”).

In this specific sentence, you could say 有些观众 or 一些观众, and most native speakers wouldn’t feel a big difference.

Why isn’t there a measure word before 观众? Shouldn’t it be something like 一些个观众?

观众 is a collective noun meaning “audience” or “spectators,” and it’s often used without a measure word when you’re talking about the group in general or an unspecified part of it.

有些观众 literally: “there are some audience [members].”
Chinese doesn’t always need a measure word when the noun naturally refers to a group or mass, especially after 有些 / 一些.

If you wanted to be very specific, you could say:

有些个观众 – grammatically possible, but sounds odd here; 个 is not usually used with 观众 this way.
有些位观众 – more formal/polite (位 is a respectful measure word for people), but this starts to sound like you’re emphasizing individual “audience members” in a formal announcement.

In normal spoken and written Chinese, 有些观众 is perfectly natural.

What is the role of 是 in 有些观众是年轻人? Could I just say 有些观众年轻?

是 here is the copula “to be,” just like English “are” in “some audience members are young people.”

有些观众是年轻人 = “Some of the audience are young people.”

If you say 有些观众年轻, then 年轻 is an adjective describing the audience directly:

有些观众年轻 = “Some of the audience are young (in age).”
有些观众是年轻人 = “Some of the audience are young people (as a category).”

Both are grammatical, but the original sentence focuses on them as a type of people (年轻人 as a noun), not just on the property “young.”

Why is it 年轻人 and not 年轻的人? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different flavors:

年轻人 is a set noun meaning “young people” (a group / category).
年轻的人 literally “people who are young,” formed by adjective + 的
- 人.

In many contexts, they overlap, but:

年轻人 is more idiomatic and compact, especially when you talk about a general demographic group:
- 很多年轻人喜欢看电影。 – “Many young people like watching movies.”
年轻的人 can sound a bit more descriptive or contrastive, like “those who are young (as opposed to others).”

In 有些观众是年轻人, the idea is “some (audience members) are young people (as a group),” so 年轻人 is the most natural.

What does 也有 mean here, and why is 也 placed before 有?

也 means “also,” “too,” and 有 here is “to have / there is / there are.”

也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 = “There are also moms and dads who brought their kids.”

Word order:

也 generally comes before the verb it modifies.
Here, the verb is 有, so we get 也有 (“also have / there also are”).

You could think of it like:

有些观众是年轻人 – “Some audience members are young people,”
(观众里) 也有…… – “(Among the audience), there are also …”

也 is linking the second part as an “additional type” of audience.

How does the structure 带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 work? Which part modifies which?

带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 breaks down like this:

带孩子来 – “bring (their) kids and come / come bringing kids”
的 – turns the preceding verb phrase into a modifier
爸爸妈妈 – “moms and dads / parents”

So 带孩子来的 is a verb phrase + 的 structure modifying 爸爸妈妈, meaning:

“the moms and dads who brought (their) kids (here).”

Pattern:

[Verb phrase] + 的 + [noun]
Examples:
坐在后面的观众 – “the audience members who are sitting in the back”
昨天来的朋友 – “the friend(s) who came yesterday”

Here:

带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 – “the parents who brought (their) children (here).”

What exactly is 来 doing in 带孩子来? Is it necessary?

In 带孩子来, 来 means “to come (here),” and it forms a directional verb complement:

带孩子 – “bring children”
带孩子来 – “bring children (and come here).”

Why it’s there:

The idea isn’t just “parents who brought their kids (somewhere),” but specifically “parents who brought their kids and came (to this place).”
In Chinese, it’s common to add 来 (come here) or 去 (go there) after a verb of movement to show direction.

You could say just 带孩子的爸爸妈妈, but that’s more ambiguous (“parents who bring children / who have children with them”) and doesn’t clearly express that they came to this place on this occasion. 带孩子来的 is more specific to “came here with kids.”

Why is there no 了 after 来, like 带孩子来了?

When a verb phrase is used as an attributive modifier (verb phrase + 的 + noun), aspect markers like 了 are often left out, especially in short, general descriptions:

带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 – “the parents who brought their kids (and came here).”

If you say 带孩子来了的爸爸妈妈, it’s not ungrammatical, but it sounds awkward and overly heavy in this position.

Compare:

Modifier form (no 了): 昨天来的人 – “the person who came yesterday.”
Main-clause form (with 了): 昨天来了一个人。 – “Yesterday, a person came.”

So here, because 带孩子来 is part of a modifier (带孩子来的), 了 is normally omitted.

Why is it just 爸爸妈妈 and not 爸爸和妈妈? Is this a set phrase?

Yes, 爸爸妈妈 is a very common fixed pairing that functions almost like a single word meaning “parents” (informal).

爸爸妈妈 = “mum and dad,” “parents”
爸爸和妈妈 literally “dad and mom,” and can sound more “list-like” or explicit.

In this sentence:

带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 feels natural and idiomatic, like “the parents who brought their kids.”
带孩子来的爸爸和妈妈 would sound like you’re emphasizing the father and mother as two separate people in a more literal way; it’s less natural as a general description of “parents” in this context.

So 爸爸妈妈 works here almost as a single noun meaning “parents.”

Why doesn’t 观众 have 们 to show plural? Shouldn’t it be 观众们 if we mean “audience members”?

Chinese does not mark plural as consistently as English. In many cases, plural is clear from context and doesn’t need 们.

观众 can mean “audience” (as a group) or “audience members,” depending on context.
有些观众 already tells you there is more than one, so no extra plural marker is needed.

观众们 does exist, but:

It’s less common and often used when directly addressing the audience in a friendly way:
- 亲爱的观众们，大家好！ – “Dear audience!”
In neutral description like this sentence, 观众 without 们 is more natural.

Could we say 有些观众很年轻，也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 instead? What would change?

Yes, that is grammatical, but the focus shifts a bit:

有些观众是年轻人 – classifies them as young people (as a demographic group).
有些观众很年轻 – just states that some audience members are very young (describing a quality).

So:

Original: 有些观众是年轻人，也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈。
- “Some audience members are young people, and there are also parents who brought their kids.”
Alternative: 有些观众很年轻，也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈。
- “Some audience members are very young, and there are also parents who brought their kids.”

Both are fine; the original is slightly more like a demographic categorization.

Could we change the word order to 也有爸爸妈妈带孩子来? Is that the same as 也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈?

也有爸爸妈妈带孩子来 is grammatical but has a different structure and emphasis.

也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈
- 带孩子来的 modifies 爸爸妈妈 as a unit:
  - “There are also parents who brought their kids (and came here).”
- Focus: a type of parents (those who brought kids).
也有爸爸妈妈带孩子来
- Here 爸爸妈妈 is the subject of 带孩子来:
  - “There are also parents who bring their kids here.”
- In many contexts, it can be understood similarly, but it sounds more like a separate clause:
  - “There are also moms and dads who bring their kids along.”

In this specific sentence describing the composition of the audience, 也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 fits better, because it matches the pattern:

有些观众是年轻人 – one type
也有带孩子来的爸爸妈妈 – another type

Both are understandable, but the original more clearly treats “parents who brought kids” as a parallel category of audience members.