Learn Hardcore Chinese: zhōumò wǒ chángcháng qù jiāoqū kànkan yéye nǎinai. - On weekends I often go to the suburbs to visit my grandparents.

周末我常常去…
Very natural and common in everyday speech. 周末 directly functions as a time word.
在周末我常常去… or 我在周末常常去…
Also correct. 在周末 literally means “at/on weekends” and can sound a bit more formal or slightly more emphatic (e.g. contrasting with weekdays).

In daily conversation, 周末我… is usually preferred unless you specifically want to stress “as for weekends / during weekends” with 在.

What exactly does 常常 mean here? Is it the same as 经常 or “usually”?

常常 means “often / frequently”. It describes how frequently the action happens.

周末我常常去郊区看看爷爷奶奶。
→ On weekends, I often go to the suburbs to visit my grandparents.

About similar words:

常常 and 经常 are near-synonyms. In most contexts you can swap them:
- 周末我经常去郊区看看爷爷奶奶。 (very natural)
通常 / 一般 lean more toward “usually / generally”, a bit less about sheer frequency and more about what is normal for you.

Position: Frequency adverbs like 常常 / 经常 / 通常 / 一般 usually go:

Subject + (Time) + Frequency adverb + Verb …
我周末常常去… / 周末我常常去…

Why is the verb written as 看看 and not just 看? What does this reduplication do?

In Chinese, many verbs can be reduplicated (repeated) to change the tone or feel of the action:

看 – “to look / to visit (someone)” in a neutral way
看看 – “have a look / visit for a bit / go see (in a light, casual way)”

Verb reduplication (like 看看, 想想, 试试) often implies:

the action is short or limited in time
the mood is relaxed, casual, or affectionate
not a heavy, serious, or long action

Here:

去郊区看看爷爷奶奶
Suggests “go to the suburbs and visit my grandparents for a while / drop by to see them”, sounding warm and natural.

Using just 看 (去郊区看爷爷奶奶) is also grammatically correct, but 看看 feels softer and more colloquial.

How is 去郊区 working here? Why don’t we need something like “to” or 在?

去 itself already means “to go (to)”:

去 + place = “go to [place]”
- 去郊区 – go to the suburbs
- 去北京 – go to Beijing
- 去学校 – go to school

So we do not say 去在郊区; that would be incorrect.

在 is used to express location or where something happens:

我在郊区住。 – I live in the suburbs.
爷爷奶奶在郊区。 – My grandparents are in the suburbs.

In this sentence we’re talking about movement (go to the suburbs), so we use 去郊区, without 在.

Why don’t we say 我的爷爷奶奶? How is possession shown with family members?

Chinese often drops 我的 (“my”) when context is clear, especially with close family members:

爷爷奶奶 – (my) grandfather and grandmother
爸爸妈妈 – (my) dad and mom
哥哥姐姐 – (my) older brother and sister

Because the subject is 我, it’s obvious these are my grandparents, so:

周末我常常去郊区看看爷爷奶奶。
is naturally understood as
“On weekends I often go to the suburbs to visit my grandparents.”

You can add 我的 if you want to be explicit or contrast with someone else’s grandparents:

周末我常常去郊区看看我的爷爷奶奶。
Still correct; just a bit more explicit.

There is no tense in the sentence. How do we know if this is present, past, or future?

Modern Mandarin typically does not mark tense directly (no endings like -ed, -ing, etc.). Instead, it relies on:

Time words
- 周末 → “on weekends” suggests a regular/habitual action.
Aspect particles (like 了, 过, 着)
None are used here, which makes it sound like a general statement.

So:

周末我常常去郊区看看爷爷奶奶。
Naturally means: “On weekends, I often (habitually) go to the suburbs to visit my grandparents.”

Context could make it refer to a current routine (“these days I often…”) or a general habit. It does not describe a single, one-time past event.

Should there be a 了 somewhere to show that the action is completed?

No 了 is needed here because the sentence describes a habitual action, not a single, completed event.

Compare:

周末我常常去郊区看看爷爷奶奶。
→ General habit (no 了).

If you want to talk about one specific weekend that already happened, you might say:

上个周末我去郊区看了爷爷奶奶。
→ “Last weekend I went to the suburbs and visited my grandparents.”
Here 了 on 看了 marks a completed action in a specific past time frame.

So:

Habit / routine → usually no 了
Specific, completed event → often use 了 (depending on structure and nuance)

Do 爷爷 and 奶奶 specifically mean paternal grandparents? What about maternal grandparents?

Yes, in standard Mandarin:

爷爷 – father’s father (paternal grandfather)
奶奶 – father’s mother (paternal grandmother)

Maternal grandparents are:

外公 – mother’s father
外婆 – mother’s mother

So the sentence naturally refers to paternal grandparents. If you wanted to talk about maternal grandparents, you’d say, for example:

周末我常常去郊区看看外公外婆。

Is there anything special about the pronunciation or tones of 看看, 爷爷, and 奶奶 in this sentence?

A few points that often confuse learners:

看看 (kànkan)
- Both syllables are fourth tone: kàn (4) kan (neutral or light 4 depending on speech).
- In fast, natural speech, the second 看 may sound lighter/shorter, but it keeps the basic falling tone feel.
爷爷 (yéye)
- yé – second tone
- ye – often pronounced in a neutral tone in real speech
  So you’ll commonly hear yé·ye (2 + neutral).
奶奶 (nǎinai)
- nǎi – third tone
- nai – often neutral tone
  So you’ll commonly hear nǎi·nai (3 + neutral).

Neutral tones are very common on kinship terms like 爸爸, 妈妈, 爷爷, 奶奶 in everyday speech, and they make the words sound more natural and affectionate.