Breakdown of zhōumò wǒmen xiǎng qù jiāoqū cānguān yí gè xiǎo bówùguǎn.
个gè
noun classifier
Used when counting nouns or when specifying a specific instance of a noun.
There are also classifiers for people, for bound items such as books and magazines, for cups/glasses, etc.
The classifier 个 is a general one that can be used for any of these.
我们wǒmen
we
去qù
to go
Questions & Answers about zhōumò wǒmen xiǎng qù jiāoqū cānguān yí gè xiǎo bówùguǎn.
Why does the sentence start with 周末? Where do time words usually go in Chinese?
Time expressions in Chinese usually come before the subject or right after the subject, and before the verb phrase.
Common patterns:
- Time + Subject + Verb…
- 周末 我们 想去…
- Subject + Time + Verb…
- 我们 周末 想去…
Both 周末我们想去郊区… and 我们周末想去郊区… are fine. Putting 周末 at the very beginning emphasizes “as for the weekend” a bit more, like English: “On the weekend, we want to go…”
What exactly does 想 mean here? Is it “want to”, “would like to”, or “think about”?
In this sentence, 想 mainly means “want to / feel like (doing something)” or “would like to”.
Rough nuances:
- 想去郊区参观…
- We want to / feel like going to the suburbs to visit…
- Desire or intention, but not necessarily fixed or arranged.
Compare with:
- 要去郊区参观…
- Stronger sense of plan / decision: We’re going to go…
- 打算去郊区参观…
- Explicit plan: We plan to go…
- 会去郊区参观…
- More like prediction: We will probably / are going to (as expected) go…
So 想 is softer and more about what you feel like doing.
Why do we have both and ? Isn’t one verb enough?