Breakdown of zhōumò wǒ xiǎng huí lǎojiā kànkan yéye nǎinai.
Questions & Answers about zhōumò wǒ xiǎng huí lǎojiā kànkan yéye nǎinai.
Chinese often puts time expressions at the beginning of the sentence, before the subject. A very common pattern is:
[Time] + [Subject] + [Verb phrase]
So:
- 周末 我 想 回 老家 看看 爷爷奶奶。
= [Weekend] [I] [want] [go back] [hometown] [visit] [grandpa grandma].
You could also say:
- 我周末想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
Both are grammatical. Starting with 周末 just emphasizes when first, which is very natural in Chinese.
On its own, 周末 can mean either:
- This coming weekend / that specific weekend (when the context is a particular time), or
- On weekends in general / every weekend (when talking about a habit).
In your sentence, most people would understand it as “this/that weekend” because the rest of the sentence describes a specific plan.
You can make it more explicit:
- 这个周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
“This weekend I want to go back to my hometown to visit my grandparents.”
在周末 is not wrong, but it’s less common in simple sentences about plans. 在 + time is more often used with longer time phrases or in written style, e.g.:
- 在寒假期间，我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
“During the winter vacation, I want to go back to my hometown to see my grandparents.”
想 (xiǎng) is very flexible. In different contexts it can mean:
- “to think”:
- 我想，他不会来了。 – “I think he won’t come.”
- “to miss / to think of (someone)”:
- 我很想你。 – “I miss you very much.”
- “to want / would like to / feel like (doing something)”:
- 我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。 – “I want / would like to go back to my hometown to visit my grandparents.”
In your sentence, 想 = “want / would like / plan to”.
As for future tense: Chinese usually does not need a special word like “will”. The time word (here 周末) plus the context tell you it’s about the future. So:
- 周末我想回老家…
Already clearly means “I want to go back this weekend…”, so adding something like 会 (“will”) is usually unnecessary.
Roughly:
想 = want / would like / feel like
Softer, can express a wish, idea, or intention; sometimes sounds like you’re considering it.要 = going to / intend to / must
Stronger, often sounds more decided or definite.想要 = literally “want to”, but in practice it’s used more with nouns than with verbs in everyday speech.
In your sentence:
周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
→ “I’d like to / I want to go back to my hometown to see my grandparents.”
(sounds like a wish or plan)周末我要回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
→ “I’m going to go back to my hometown to see my grandparents.”
(sounds more decided, like a fixed plan)
Using 想要 + verb here is possible but less natural than simple 想 + verb.
回 (huí) means “to return / to go back”. It’s often followed by a place:
- 回家 – go back home
- 回公司 – go back to the company
- 回老家 – go back to one’s hometown/old home
回去 and 回来 are directional complements:
- 回去 = go back (away from where the speaker is now)
- 回来 = come back (toward where the speaker is now)
In your sentence:
- 周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
This usually implies “go back (to there)”, so if you wanted to be more explicit about direction, you could also say:
- 周末我想回老家去看看爷爷奶奶。
But plain 回老家 is very natural and already understood as “go back to my hometown.”
These three are related but not identical:
家 – home; family; the place you currently live or regard as home.
- 我回家了。 – “I went back home.”
老家 – hometown / ancestral home / where you (or your parents) come from originally.
You might live and work in a big city now, but your 老家 is the town or village where your family is from.家乡 – very close to “hometown”, often slightly more formal or literary than 老家.
- 我的家乡在四川。 – “My hometown is in Sichuan.”
So:
- 回家 – go back to where you live now.
- 回老家 – go back to your original home area, typically where your parents / grandparents live.
In Chinese, reduplicating a verb (V → VV) often makes the action sound:
- short / brief
- casual / “just” do it
- sometimes softer / more polite
So:
- 看 – “to look / to see / to visit (someone)”
- 看看 – “to have a look / to go and visit (for a bit)”
In your sentence:
- 回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
The 看看 suggests: “go back home and see my grandparents (for a visit, not necessarily for a long time, kind of a warm, casual visit)”.
Compare:
- 回老家看爷爷奶奶。 – more neutral, just “go back & see them”.
- 回老家看看爷爷奶奶。 – sounds a little lighter, warmer, more like “go back and pay them a visit.”
Yes, both are possible:
- 看一下爷爷奶奶
- 看看爷爷奶奶
Both 一下 and verb reduplication (看看) can make the action sound brief and less heavy.
Nuance:
- 看一下 literally “look/see once (for a bit)” – feels slightly more neutral / polite.
- 看看 feels a bit more colloquial and natural in daily speech, and often slightly warmer.
In this particular sentence, 看看 is the most natural and common choice, but 看一下 would not be wrong.
You can say 我的爷爷奶奶, and it’s grammatically correct:
- 周末我想回老家看看我的爷爷奶奶。
However, with close family members, native speakers often omit 的 when it’s clear whose family members are being talked about. For example:
- 我爸爸、我妈妈 / 爸爸、妈妈
- 我爷爷、我奶奶 / 爷爷、奶奶
In your sentence, it’s obvious that you’re talking about your own grandparents, so 的 is usually dropped:
- 看看爷爷奶奶。 (most natural)
- 看看我的爷爷奶奶。 (adds emphasis on “my”, or used for contrast)
No, 爷爷 and 奶奶 are specifically for paternal (father’s side) grandparents:
- 爷爷 – father’s father (paternal grandfather)
- 奶奶 – father’s mother (paternal grandmother)
For maternal (mother’s side) grandparents, standard terms are:
- 外公 – mother’s father (maternal grandfather)
- 外婆 – mother’s mother (maternal grandmother)
(There are also regional variants like 姥爷 / 姥姥 in the north.)
When someone says only 爷爷奶奶 without context, it normally means their grandparents on their father’s side.
The sentence is perfectly fine without 了:
- 周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
Adding 了 at the end can do things like:
Indicate a new situation / newly made decision:
- 周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶了。
→ suggests “I’ve now decided / started to want to go back and see them.”
- 周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶了。
Sometimes adds a feeling of “it’s about time / finally”, depending on context.
But for a simple statement of a plan or desire, most learners can just use the sentence without 了. Native speakers very often say it exactly as you have it.
Yes, in informal spoken or written Chinese, people often omit the subject when it’s obvious from context.
- 周末想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
→ “(I) want to go back to my hometown to see my grandparents this weekend.”
This is natural in a chat message, diary, or when you are clearly talking about your own plans.
In more formal situations, or if there could be confusion about who is going, it’s safer to keep 我:
- 周末我想回老家看看爷爷奶奶。
Yes, in natural speech, the second syllables of these words are usually neutral tone.
看看 → kànkan
- 1st syllable: kàn – 4th tone
- 2nd syllable: kan – neutral tone (light, short)
(Dictionaries sometimes write kànkàn, but in real speech, the second one often weakens to neutral.)
爷爷 → yéye
- 1st: yé – 2nd tone
- 2nd: ye – neutral tone
奶奶 → nǎinai
- 1st: nǎi – 3rd tone
- 2nd: nai – neutral tone
So you don’t fully pronounce two strong tones; instead, you stress the first syllable and make the second one lighter and shorter.