fàngjià de shíhou, wǒ dìdi hé hěn duō dàxuéshēng jì xiǎng xiūxi yòu xiǎng dǎgōng zhuànqián.

放假 literally means “to have/declare a holiday; to have time off.”

Key points:

• When the school/company is the subject:

  • 学校明天放假。 – The school will be on holiday tomorrow.
  • 公司下个星期放假。 – The company will have time off next week.

• When people are the subject:

  • 我们明天放假。 – We have a day off tomorrow / We’re on holiday tomorrow.
  • 放假的时候 – When (we) are on holiday / During the vacation period.

So 放假 is about the state or period of having a holiday, not “to go somewhere on vacation” (that would be more like 去旅游, 去度假, etc.).

In the sentence 放假的时候..., it means “during the vacation / when we are on break.”

The pattern is:

[verb / verb phrase] + 的 + 时候 = when ... / at the time when ...

So:

• 放假 – to be on holiday
• 放假的时候 – when (we) are on holiday / during the holidays

Here, 的 turns the verb phrase 放假 into something that can modify 时候 (“time”), similar to how English might use “the time when we are on vacation.”

Alternatives:

• 放假时候 – grammatically possible but sounds incomplete/awkward in modern Mandarin; native speakers normally say 放假的时候.
• 放假时 – shorter, more written/formal.
  
  • 放假时，我弟弟…… – Common in written Chinese.

So 放假的时候 is the most natural neutral–spoken version.

Both are possible:

• 放假的时候，我弟弟和很多大学生……
• 在放假的时候，我弟弟和很多大学生……

Differences:

• Without 在 (more common):
  放假的时候 is just a time phrase: “When it’s vacation / During the holidays.” Very natural and neutral.

• With 在:
  在放假的时候 is also correct, slightly more explicit: “During the time of the vacation.” It can sound a bit heavier or more written, but it’s fine in speech too.

In everyday speech, Chinese often drops 在 in time expressions, especially at the beginning of the sentence. So the given sentence without 在 is very typical.

Chinese commonly puts time expressions at the beginning of the sentence, before the subject:

• 放假的时候， 我弟弟和很多大学生……
  When it’s vacation, my younger brother and many college students…

This basic order is:

[Time] + [Subject] + [Other elements]

You can move the time phrase:

• 我弟弟和很多大学生放假的时候既想休息又想打工赚钱。
  This is technically possible but sounds clumsy and ambiguous; it feels like “my younger brother and many college students’ vacation time…” which is not what we want.

A natural alternative is:

• 我弟弟和很多大学生在放假的时候既想休息又想打工赚钱。

But the most natural, clear, and common is exactly what you have: time phrase at the start.

In Chinese, kinship terms often can imply “my,” but usage varies with context and style.

• 弟弟 by itself can mean:

  • My younger brother (if it’s clear we’re talking about me),
  • Someone’s younger brother in general,
  • Or just “younger brothers” as a group in some contexts.

• 我弟弟 is explicitly “my younger brother.”

In a sentence like this, both can be acceptable, but:

• 我弟弟 feels clearer and more personal in an isolated sentence.
• If the context was already about “my family” and it’s obvious, a native speaker might say just 弟弟.

So 我弟弟 is not redundant; it’s just being explicit for clarity.

Here, 和 (hé) is a conjunction linking two nouns:

• 我弟弟和很多大学生
  – my younger brother and many university students

Alternatives:

• 跟 (gēn) – very common in spoken Chinese, similar to 和:

  • 我弟弟跟很多大学生… (very natural in speech)

• 以及 (yǐjí) – more formal, often written:

  • 我弟弟以及很多大学生… (sounds more formal or list-like)

In this sentence:

• 和 is completely natural and neutral.
• 跟 would be a good spoken alternative.
• 以及 makes it sound more written/formal or like an official statement.

Note that 和 here links nouns, not verbs or clauses. For verb phrases like “rest and work part-time,” Chinese usually uses patterns like 既…又…, 又…又…, etc., not 和.

很多大学生 means “many college students” or “a lot of college students.”

Structure:

• 很 (hěn) – very, quite
• 多 (duō) – many, much
• 大学生 (dàxuéshēng) – university students

But in 很多, 很 is not as strong as “very”; it’s often just part of a fixed expression meaning “a lot of / many.” It doesn’t always emphasize strongly like English very.

So:

• 多大学生 – unnatural; you normally need something before 多:
  • 很多大学生 – many college students
  • 不少大学生 – quite a few college students
  • 一些大学生 – some college students

Hence, 很多大学生 is the standard way to say “many college students.”

既…又… (jì… yòu…) is a correlative conjunction meaning:

both … and … / not only … but also …

In the sentence:

• 既想休息又想打工赚钱
  – (they) both want to rest and want to work part-time to earn money.

Comparison with 又…又…:

• 又…又…:

  • More colloquial.
  • Often used with adjectives or simple verbs:
    • 又累又困 – both tired and sleepy
    • 又想休息又想打工赚钱 – also acceptable, more colloquial.

• 既…又…:

  • Slightly more formal or “bookish,” but still common in speech.
  • Often used when you want a more balanced or rhetorical feel.

So you could also say:

• 我弟弟和很多大学生又想休息又想打工赚钱。
  This is very natural spoken Mandarin, slightly more casual in tone.

The full structure is:

• 既 想 休息 又 想 打工赚钱

In Chinese, in a 既…又… pattern, we usually keep the verbs in both parts parallel, especially when they are short and common like 想.

Can we drop the second 想?

• 既想休息又打工赚钱 – grammatically possible, but:
  • Sounds less balanced.
  • Can feel like a slight “twist” in structure: “both want to rest and (also) do part-time work and make money.”

Most native speakers would naturally keep the second 想 for clarity and rhythm. So:

• 既想休息又想打工赚钱
  is more standard and sounds better.

打工赚钱 (dǎgōng zhuànqián) is two verbs in sequence:

• 打工 – to do part-time work / to work (usually low-paid or temporary jobs)
• 赚钱 – to earn money

Together, 打工赚钱 means:

to (do) part-time work in order to earn money

This is a very common verb-verb sequence in Chinese:

• Action 1: 打工
• Purpose/result: 赚钱

You could make this purpose more explicit:

• 打工来赚钱 – work part-time to make money
• 打工赚钱 – work part-time (and thus) make money

In everyday speech, 打工赚钱 is perfectly natural and concise, and people understand the purpose relation from context.

If you say just:

• 既想休息又想打工。

It means:

(They) both want to rest and want to work (part-time).

That’s fine, but it’s less specific. 打工 by itself emphasizes the action of working (often part-time, low-pay jobs).

By adding 赚钱:

• 既想休息又想打工赚钱。

You highlight the reason/motivation: they want to work to earn money. It adds a natural and common nuance:

they want to rest, but they also want to earn money by doing part-time work.

So 赚钱 is not grammatically required, but it makes the meaning clearer and closer to how people would actually say it.

Chinese usually does not mark tense (past/present/future) in the verb itself. Instead, it relies on:

• Time expressions
• Context
• Sometimes aspect markers like 了, 过, 在, etc.

Here:

• 放假的时候 – “when (we) are on holiday / during the holidays”

By itself, this phrase can refer to:

• Habitual/general situations:
  • (Whenever) it’s the holidays, my younger brother and many college students both want to rest and work…
• A specific upcoming or ongoing holiday (if context says so):
  • “During this coming break, my brother and many students want to…”

So without extra context, the sentence naturally reads as a general statement about what typically happens during holidays.

If we wanted to emphasize past or future, we could add time words:

• 去年放假的时候… – During last year’s vacation…
• 这个寒假放假的时候… – During this winter vacation…
• 明年放假的时候… – When we have the holidays next year…