Learn Hardcore Chinese: shàng dàxué yǐqián, tā chángcháng gēn wǒ tǎolùn zìjǐ xiǎng xué shénme zhuānyè. - Before going to university, he often discussed with me what major he wanted to study.

上大学以前: “Before attending college”
- Focus is on the specific event of attending college, then marking “before” after it.
- This order ([event] + 以前) is the most natural and common for “before doing X.”
以前上大学: literally “in the past, (he) attended college”
- Here 以前 means “before / in the past” in a more general, looser sense.
- It usually describes a general past habit or state, not “before doing X.”

In this sentence we’re talking about a period before the event of going to college, so:

上大学以前，……

is the natural choice to mean “Before he went to college, …”

Why is there no explicit subject in 上大学以前? Who is the subject of that clause?

In Chinese, when two clauses share the same subject, the first (subordinate) clause often omits the subject if it’s clear from context.

Here:

Main clause: 他常常跟我讨论自己想学什么专业。 — subject is 他 (“he”).
Time clause: 上大学以前，…… — no subject explicitly written.

But the reader naturally understands:

(他)上大学以前，他常常跟我讨论……
“(Before he went to college,) he often discussed with me…”

So the implied subject of 上大学以前 is also 他.
In English we must repeat “he,” but in Chinese we usually don’t when it’s obvious.

Why isn’t there any past-tense marker like 了 or 过 in the sentence, even though it talks about the past?

Chinese doesn’t mark past tense the way English does. Instead, it relies on:

Time expressions: e.g. 上大学以前 (“before going to college”)
Context

Here 上大学以前 already puts everything clearly in the past, so adding 了 is not necessary.

You could say things like:

他常常跟我讨论…… → describes a habit (often did it).
They don’t usually take 了, because 了 tends to mark completed events, not ongoing or habitual past behavior.

So the sentence is naturally interpreted as past because of the time phrase and the adverb 常常.

What exactly does 跟 mean here? Is it the same as “with”?

Yes, in this sentence 跟 (gēn) functions like the preposition “with”:

跟我讨论 = “discuss (something) with me”

Common uses of 跟:

他跟我说。= He spoke to me.
我跟老师学汉语。= I learn Chinese with/from the teacher.
他跟朋友一起去。= He goes with friends.

You could also use 和 (hé) here:

他常常和我讨论……

In conversation, 跟 sounds slightly more casual; 和 is a bit more neutral, but both are very common and acceptable.

Why is it 跟我讨论 and not 讨论跟我?

讨论 (tǎolùn) means “to discuss (something)”, and it normally takes:

A topic as its object:
- 讨论问题 = discuss the problem
An optional person introduced with 跟 / 和:
- 跟我讨论 = discuss with me

The normal word order is:

[subject] + 跟 + [person] + 讨论 + [topic]

So:

他常常跟我讨论自己想学什么专业。
“He often discusses with me what major he wants to study.”

If you say 讨论跟我, it sounds like “discuss about with me” and is ungrammatical; the person must come before the verb with 跟, not after it as part of the verb’s object.

What does 自己 refer to here—“himself” or “me”?

In this sentence, 自己 (zìjǐ) refers to 他 (he), not to 我 (me).

General rule:

自己 usually refers to the subject of the clause it’s in.

Here the subject of the clause is 他:

他常常跟我讨论自己想学什么专业。
So 自己 = “himself.”

Meaning: he often discussed with me what major he himself wanted to study.

If you wanted it to refer clearly to 我, you would normally say 我自己 instead of just 自己:

他常常跟我讨论我自己想学什么专业。
= He often discussed with me what I wanted to study.

Why is it 想学 and not a single word like “to choose a major”?

Chinese often combines simple verbs instead of using a single complex verb.

想 (xiǎng) = to want / to intend / to plan
学 (xué) = to study / to learn

Together:

想学 = “want to study”

So 自己想学什么专业 means “what major he wants to study,” built very transparently:

自己 (himself)
想 (wants to)
学 (study)
什么 (what)
专业 (major)

Chinese breaks it into these logical pieces rather than using a single specific verb like “major in” or “specialize in.”

Why is it 想学什么专业 and not 想学专业什么?

In Chinese, question words stay in the position where the answer would appear. They don’t move to the front like in English.

Here, the pattern is:

他想学历史专业。= He wants to study history as his major.
他想学什么专业？= He wants to study what major?

So the question word 什么 goes exactly where “history” would be:

想学 + 什么 + 专业

想学专业什么 is incorrect word order; 什么 can’t go after 专业 in this structure.

This rule applies both in direct questions and in “embedded” questions like this one, where the whole clause is an object of 讨论.

Is 自己想学什么专业 a real question here, or is it an embedded/indirect question?

It’s an embedded (indirect) question, not a real question being asked.

Direct question: 他想学什么专业？= What major does he want to study?
Embedded/indirect: 他常常跟我讨论自己想学什么专业。
= He often discussed what major he wanted to study (with me).

Chinese embeds questions with question words (什么, 哪里, 谁, 怎么, 为什么, etc.) without adding words like “if” or changing the word order.

Notice:

Word order stays like the normal question.
There is no 吗 in embedded questions, same as in English (“I asked what he wanted,” not “I asked what did he want”).

Could you add 在 and say 在上大学以前? Is that different?

Yes, 在上大学以前 is also grammatically correct.

上大学以前 = before going to college
在上大学以前 = also “before going to college,” with 在 adding a slight sense of “during the time before…”

Differences:

Without 在: more concise, very common in both speech and writing.
With 在: often a bit more formal or emphatic about the time frame:
- 在上大学以前，他已经学了三年汉语。
  = Before going to college, he had already studied Chinese for three years.

In everyday speech, people very often just say 上大学以前 as in your sentence.

Where can 常常 go in this sentence? Is its current position the only option?

The sentence uses:

他常常跟我讨论……

This is very natural: the adverb 常常 (often) goes right before the verb phrase (跟我讨论).

Other common positions:

他常常跟我讨论自己想学什么专业。 (original)
他跟我常常讨论自己想学什么专业。
- Also acceptable; slightly more emphasis on “with me” as part of the frequent action.

Less natural or wrong:

常常他跟我讨论…… — unusual; adverbs like 常常 typically don’t go before the subject in standard Mandarin.

So the safest and most common is exactly what you see: subject + 常常 + (跟 + person) + verb + object.

What does 专业 mean here? Is it “major” or “profession”?

专业 (zhuānyè) can mean both, depending on context:

Academic major / field of study (as in this sentence):
- 你大学学什么专业？= What’s your major in college?
- So here it clearly means “major (in college)”.
Specialty / professional field in a broader sense:
- 他的专业是金融。= His specialty/field is finance.
- 他是法律专业的。= His field is law.

In 自己想学什么专业, combined with 上大学以前, 专业 is understood specifically as “major (subject) in college.”