Breakdown of gōngyuán lǐbian yǒu hěnduō rén zài sànbù.
Questions & Answers about gōngyuán lǐbian yǒu hěnduō rén zài sànbù.
In this kind of sentence, Chinese uses 有 to express existence: that something exists in a place.
The basic pattern is:
- Place + 有 + something (or someone)
- 公园里边有很多人。 – There are many people in the park.
Using 是 is for equating / identifying things, not for saying something exists in a location:
- 他是老师。 – He is a teacher. (identity)
- 公园里边是很多人。 – This is not natural Chinese.
So to say “there are X in place Y,” use 有, not 是.
公园里边 (inside the park) is a location phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence to set the scene: where something is happening.
Chinese often puts time and place first:
- 公园里边有很多人在散步。
- Literally: Inside the park, there are many people walking.
So 公园里边 is not the grammatical “subject” like in English; it’s a place phrase introducing an existential sentence of the pattern:
- [Place] + 有 + [people/things] + [doing something]
You can say both:
- 公园里边有很多人在散步。
- 在公园里边有很多人在散步。
Both are grammatical. The 在 before a place (like 在公园里边) works like a preposition “at / in.”
Differences:
- Without 在:
- 公园里边有… is already a very natural existential pattern.
- With 在:
- 在公园里边有… is also correct, but the sentence feels a bit more “heavy” or formal in many contexts.
In everyday speech and writing, 公园里边有… is very common and perfectly natural.
Here 在 in 在散步 is not a location marker; it’s a kind of aspect marker showing an ongoing action, similar to English “-ing” in are walking.
- 很多人在散步。 – Many people are taking a walk.
Compare:
- 在公园里 – 在 = “at / in,” marking location.
- 在散步 – 在 = marking that the action is in progress.
So the same 在 word serves two functions in Chinese:
- Before a place → “at / in”
- Before a verb → “in the middle of doing (something)”
Both mean the action is happening right now.
- 在散步 – indicates an ongoing action; very common in conversation.
- 正在散步 – adds a bit more emphasis on “right at this moment” or “in the middle of”.
In this sentence:
- 公园里边有很多人在散步。
- 公园里边有很多人正在散步。
Both are natural. The second just sounds slightly more emphatic or vivid about “right now.”
Yes, you can say:
- 公园里边有很多人散步。
It is grammatically correct and understandable.
Differences:
- 有很多人在散步 (with 在)
- Highlights that the action is currently ongoing.
- Very natural for describing what you see right now.
- 有很多人散步 (without 在)
- Slightly more neutral; can also describe a usual situation or a more general fact.
In everyday speech, 在散步 is more common when describing what’s happening right now in a specific scene.
Both are correct and very close in meaning.
公园里边有很多人在散步。
- Pattern: [Place] + 有 + [people] + [doing something]
- Feels like: “In the park, there are many people walking.”
- The focus starts from the place.
很多人在公园里边散步。
- Pattern: [People] + 在 + [place] + [do something]
- Feels like: “Many people are walking in the park.”
- The focus starts from the people and their action.
So it’s mainly a difference in emphasis / perspective, not in basic meaning.
很多人 is the normal, natural way to say “many people.”
In Chinese, some nouns can be used directly after 很多 without a measure word:
- 很多人 – many people
- 很多水 – lots of water
- 很多时间 – a lot of time
You only add a measure word like 个 when you want to emphasize individual units for some reason:
- 很多个人 – many individual people (unusual here; sounds like you’re counting heads one by one or stressing individuality).
So in this sentence, 很多人 is the correct and most natural form.
In modern Chinese, 们 is:
- Mostly used with pronouns and certain human nouns when they refer to a specific, known group:
- 我们 – we
- 他们 – they
- 同学们 – (you) students
- 朋友们 – (my/our) friends
For 人, Chinese usually does not add 们 when it just means “people” in general or “many people”:
- 很多人 – many people (general)
- 有几个人在外面。 – There are several people outside.
人们 does exist, but it’s more like “the people” or “people in general” in a more formal or literary sense. Here we just want a neutral “many people,” so 很多人 is correct.
散步 is a verb (more precisely, a verb-object compound) meaning “to take a walk / to go for a walk / to stroll.”
- 散 – to scatter, to disperse
- 步 – step
Together: 散步 – to walk in a relaxed way for leisure or exercise, not to go somewhere specific.
It behaves like a single verb in sentences:
- 我每天晚上散步。 – I take a walk every evening.
- 他们在公园里散步。 – They walk / are taking a walk in the park.
So in 在散步, 散步 is the verb describing what people are doing.
All three can mean “inside / in”, and in many everyday contexts they are interchangeable:
- 里
- 里面
- 里边
Rough nuances:
- 里 – shortest, very common: 公园里
- 里面 – a bit more explicit / full form: 公园里面
- 里边 – very common in the north; feels colloquial and natural: 公园里边
In this sentence, 公园里边 sounds like natural, conversational Mandarin. You could also say:
- 公园里有很多人在散步。
- 公园里面有很多人在散步。
All are acceptable; the difference is small and mostly stylistic.
Not in the same way English uses “subject.”
This sentence is an existential construction:
- [Place] + 有 + [people/things] + [doing something]
So:
- 公园里边 – place/location phrase
- 有 – existential verb (there is / there are)
- 很多人 – the thing that exists in that place
- 在散步 – what they are doing
If you try to force English grammar labels, you might call 很多人 the “logical subject” of 在散步, but structurally the whole sentence is organized around the place and 有, not a typical subject-verb-object pattern like English.