Learn Hardcore Chinese: zìcóng yǒu le zhè gè wǎngzhàn yǐhòu, duì tā de huàjiā shēnghuó yǐngxiǎng hěn dà. - Since she has had this website, it has had a big influence on her life as a painter.

In English we usually just say “Since we got this website…”, but in Chinese this 自从 … 以后 pattern is very natural and emphasizes the duration from that point in time up to now.

You can often drop one of them:

自从有了这个网站，对她的画家生活影响很大。
有了这个网站以后，对她的画家生活影响很大。

All are acceptable, but 自从……以后 together is very common and sounds smooth and complete.

What exactly does 有了 mean here? Why not just 有?

有了 here expresses a change of state: “came to have / got / started to have”.

有这个网站 can mean simply “there is this website / she has this website” (a static situation).
有了这个网站 focuses on the moment of obtaining/appearing: “(she/they) got this website / once this website came into existence”.

Because the clause is introduced by 自从 (“ever since”), Chinese likes to show that something began at a certain point; that’s why the 了 is added:

自从有了这个网站以后 = “Ever since (she/they) got this website / ever since this website appeared…”

Who is the subject of 有了这个网站? It’s not written—how do we know?

Chinese often omits subjects when they are clear from context or not important.

In 自从有了这个网站以后, the structure is existential: “since there has been this website” or “since (we/she) got this website”. Possible implied subjects:

她 (she) – since she got this website
Some group / organization – since we / they got this website
Generic “there” – since there has been this website

Because the second half of the sentence is 对她的画家生活影响很大, we naturally understand that we’re talking about the website’s existence in her life, so the exact grammatical subject of 有了 is left implicit and doesn’t need to be spelled out.

What is the function of 对 in 对她的画家生活影响很大?

对 here is a preposition meaning “to / toward / on / with regard to”.

Pattern:

对 + noun + 影响很大
literally: “(its) influence on X is very big.”

So:

对她的画家生活影响很大 = “(It) has a big influence on her life as a painter.”

You’ll see 对 used like this a lot:

对他来说 = to him / for him
对环境有好处 = be good for the environment
对身体不好 = be bad for the body/health

Is 影响 a verb or a noun in this sentence?

Here, 影响 is functioning as a noun.

Structure:

对她的画家生活 → prepositional phrase: “on her life as a painter”
影响 → noun: “influence”
很大 → adjective phrase: “(is) very big”

Put together:
(这个网站) 对她的画家生活影响很大
≈ “(This website’s) influence on her life as a painter is very big.”

If 影响 were used as a verb, the structure would look more like:

这个网站大大地影响了她的画家生活。
- “This website greatly affected her life as a painter.”

So:

对……影响很大 → 影响 = noun
影响…… (directly) → 影响 = verb

Why is there no explicit subject before 对她的画家生活? Can we add one?

The full, “complete” version could be:

这个网站对她的画家生活影响很大。
- “This website has a big influence on her life as a painter.”

In the original sentence, 自从有了这个网站以后 already introduces “this website” as the main new factor, so the subject in the second part is understood and can be omitted:

（这个网站）对她的画家生活影响很大。

Chinese often drops a subject if it’s obvious from the preceding clause. If you’re writing or speaking and want to be very clear, you can safely add 这个网站 before 对.

What does the 的 in 她的画家生活 do? Could we say 她画家生活 without 的?

的 is marking possession/association here: “her painter life” / “her life as a painter”.

她的画家生活 = “her life (as) a painter”

Without 的:

她画家生活 is not natural in standard Mandarin. You need 的 between a pronoun (她) and the noun phrase that belongs to it.

In some set expressions or with close relationships, you might drop 的 (e.g. 我妈, 我家), but 她画家生活 is not one of those; it sounds wrong. So you should keep 她的画家生活.

Is 画家 acting like an adjective here? What exactly is 画家生活?

画家生活 is a noun–noun compound:

画家 = painter (a person)
生活 = life, lifestyle

Put together:

画家生活 = “painter life” → “the life of a painter / life as a painter”

This is very common in Chinese: one noun modifies another:

学生生活 = student life
城市生活 = city life
夜生活 = night life

So 画家 is still a noun, not an adjective, but it’s used attributively in front of another noun.

Why is it 对她的画家生活影响很大 instead of 影响她的画家生活很大?

Chinese prefers a clear structure; 影响她的画家生活很大 sounds awkward because:

影响她的画家生活 would be read as a verb phrase (“affect her life as a painter”),
followed immediately by 很大, which normally modifies an adjective or a noun.

Two more natural patterns are:

Treat 影响 as a noun:
- （这个网站）对她的画家生活影响很大。
- “(This website’s) influence on her life as a painter is very big.”
Treat 影响 as a verb:
- （这个网站）很大地影响了她的画家生活。
- “This website greatly influenced her life as a painter.”

So 对 + noun + 影响很大 is a fixed, common pattern that avoids the ambiguity/awkwardness of 影响她的画家生活很大.

What’s the role of 很 in 很大? Could we just say 影响大?

很 literally means “very”, but in many cases in Chinese it also works as a default degree marker before adjectives in predicates.

影响很大 is the most natural form here.
影响大 is possible, but it:
- can sound more like a contrast or a more “bare” statement, or
- can feel slightly less smooth in a neutral descriptive sentence.

In modern Mandarin, when an adjective like 大、小、高、贵 etc. stands as the main predicate (X 很大, Y 很贵), 很 is often added even if you don’t strongly mean “very”. Think of it as “is (quite) big” more than “is VERY BIG” in many contexts.

What kind of 了 is this in 有了? Is it the same as sentence-final 了?

This 了 is a verb-complement 了, marking change of state / completion of the action expressed by the verb 有.

有了这个网站 = “(we/she) came to have this website / got this website / there came to be this website.”

This is different from a sentence-final 了, which often marks a new situation, change, or emphasis for the whole sentence:

现在她有这个网站了。
- Here 了 at the end stresses that now she has the website (a new situation).

In your sentence, 了 is attached to 有 and is directly part of the verb phrase 有了.

Why is 生活 used here, and not something like 人生? What’s the difference?

Both 生活 and 人生 can be translated as “life”, but they’re used differently:

生活 = everyday life, lifestyle, way of living
- very practical and concrete: work, routine, conditions, experiences
人生 = (one’s) life in a broader, more philosophical sense
- destiny, life’s path, major choices, “the course of one’s life”

Here we’re talking about “her life as a painter” in terms of how it is affected by a website (work opportunities, exposure, daily routine, etc.), so 画家生活 (painter’s life / life as a painter) with 生活 is appropriate.

画家人生 would sound like a more literary, philosophical phrase: “the life journey of a painter”. That’s not what’s meant here.

Could the sentence end with 了, like 影响很大了? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you could say:

自从有了这个网站以后，对她的画家生活影响很大了。

Adding 了 at the end usually adds a sense of change compared to before, or emphasizes that the situation has now become this way:

影响很大。 = “The influence is big.” (neutral statement of fact)
影响很大了。 = “The influence has become big now.” / “It’s now having a big influence.” (highlighting the change, especially compared to an earlier time when the influence was smaller or absent)

Both are grammatically correct; the original without sentence-final 了 is a straightforward description, while with 了 it sounds more like you’re contrasting now with before.