Learn Hardcore Chinese: jiàoxuélóu pángbiān yǒu yì gè ānjìng de dìfang, xiàoyuán lǐ de xuéshēng xǐhuan qù nàr xiūxi. - Next to the classroom building there is a quiet place; students on campus like to go there to rest.

Why is 有 used here? In English we would just say “Next to the teaching building there is a quiet place.” What is the function of 有 in 教学楼旁边有一个安静的地方?

The pattern Place + 有 + Thing is the standard Chinese way to say “There is/are (something) at (a place).”

So:

教学楼旁边有一个安静的地方
- Literally: “Next to the teaching building, there exists a quiet place.”
- Natural English: “Next to the teaching building, there is a quiet place.”

This 有 is not “to have” in the sense of possession by a person; it’s the existential 有, used to state that something exists in a location.

You can’t normally drop 有 in this structure.
✗ 教学楼旁边一个安静的地方 is ungrammatical as a sentence. You need 有 (or another verb) to make a predicate.

Could we say 有一个安静的地方在教学楼旁边 instead? What’s the difference in word order?

Yes, 有一个安静的地方在教学楼旁边 is also grammatical.

The difference is in focus / emphasis:

教学楼旁边有一个安静的地方
- Topic: the area next to the teaching building.
- Emphasis: what exists there is a quiet place.
有一个安静的地方在教学楼旁边
- Topic: there exists a quiet place (somewhere).
- Emphasis: where it is (it’s next to the teaching building).

Both can be used, but the first pattern (Place + 有 + Thing) is more common in descriptions of locations like this.

Why do we say 一个安静的地方 and not 一个安静地方? What is the role of 的 here?

的 is used here as a modifier marker: it links an adjective to the noun it describes.

安静的地方 = “a quiet place”
- 安静的 = “quiet” (as an adjective phrase)
- 地方 = “place”

With most adjectives before a noun, especially disyllabic ones like 安静, you normally need 的:

漂亮的人 – a beautiful person
重要的事情 – an important matter
安静的地方 – a quiet place

You can’t say ✗ 安静地方 in standard modern Mandarin.
Dropping 的 is only possible with certain monosyllabic adjectives (老、好、大、小、长、短 etc.) and in some set expressions, e.g.:

大山 – big mountain
小路 – small road

So 安静的地方 is the correct form here.

What exactly does 教学楼 mean? Is it the same as 学校?

教学楼 literally means “teaching building”:

教 – to teach
学 – to study / teaching & learning
楼 – building (multi‑storey building)

So 教学楼 is the classroom building (or buildings), where classes are held.

It is not the same as 学校:

学校 – school as an institution (the whole school)
教学楼 – one specific building within a school or campus where teaching happens

In this sentence, the quiet place is next to the teaching building, not just anywhere near the school in general.

What’s the difference between 校园 and 学校? Why use 校园 in 校园里的学生?

学校 – the school as an institution (and also the physical school, in general).
校园 – the campus, the school grounds: buildings, paths, gardens, sports fields, etc.

校园 emphasizes the physical environment and atmosphere of the school.
In 校园里的学生:

It literally means “the students in the campus.”
It suggests the students on campus, as part of campus life and environment.

You could also say 学校里的学生, which is understandable and also common.
校园里的学生 just highlights “campus” a bit more vividly, fitting the descriptive, picture-like style of the sentence.

Why is it 校园里的学生 and not 在校园里的学生 or just 校园的学生?

校园里的学生 is a modifier phrase describing “which students”:

校园里 – in the campus
的学生 – students (who are) …

So 校园里的学生 = “the students who are in the campus.”

About the alternatives:

在校园里的学生
- Literally “the students who are located in the campus”.
- Grammatically OK, but slightly heavier/longer.
- The 在 is often dropped inside such modifier phrases when the location is clear: 校园里的学生 sounds smoother.
校园的学生
- Literally “the students of the campus” (more like “students belonging to this campus/school”).
- Emphasizes affiliation, not their physical presence in that space.

In this sentence, the idea is “students in the campus like going there to rest,” so 校园里的学生 is natural and concise.

What is the function of 里 in 校园里? Is it the same as 里面?

里 is a location word meaning “inside / in”.

校园里 – “in the campus” / “inside the campus”
校园里面 – same meaning, just a bit more explicit/emphatic

Differences:

里 is shorter and more common in written and neutral speech.
里面 can feel more concrete, sometimes emphasizing the interior:
- 盒子里 and 盒子里面 are both “in the box”.
- 校园里 and 校园里面 are both “on / in the campus”.

Here, 校园里 is perfectly natural and slightly more concise than 校园里面.

Why is there no 在 before 校园里 (like 在校园里)? We usually see 在 + place for “at/in”.

You’re right that in simple location statements we often use 在 + place:

学生在校园里。 – The students are in the campus.

But 校园里的学生 is not a full “location sentence”; it’s a noun phrase modifier:

Whole phrase: 校园里的学生 – “the students in the campus”

Inside such modifiers, it’s very common to have Place + 里 + 的 + Noun without 在:

教室里的老师 – the teacher in the classroom
房间里的灯 – the light in the room
校园里的学生 – the students in the campus

If you turn it into a full sentence, you’d reintroduce 在:

学生在校园里休息。 – The students rest in the campus.

Why is it 那儿 instead of 那里? Are 那儿 and 那里 different?

那儿 (nàr) and 那里 (nàli / nàlǐ) both mean “there” and are largely interchangeable.

The main difference is regional / stylistic:

那儿 / 这儿 – more common in northern Mandarin (including Beijing).
那里 / 这里 – widely used and often preferred in written or neutral standard.

In this sentence you could say:

学生喜欢去那儿休息。
学生喜欢去那里休息。

Both are correct; the meaning is the same.
The text just happens to use 那儿.

Why do we say 教学楼旁边 and not 教学楼的旁边? When do we need the 的 after a noun?

Both forms are possible:

教学楼旁边 – next to the teaching building
教学楼的旁边 – literally “the side next to the teaching building”

In many “Noun + 旁边 / 上 / 下 / 里 / 外” location expressions, the 的 is often optional and is dropped in everyday speech:

桌子上(面) / 桌子的上面 – on the table
房子后边 / 房子的后边 – behind the house
学校旁边 / 学校的旁边 – next to the school

Without 的, the phrase is slightly more compact and is very common.
With 的, it can sound a bit more formal or slightly more explicit, but there’s no big meaning difference here.

So 教学楼旁边 is a very natural, common form.

What exactly does 旁边 mean? Is it “beside” or “near”?

旁边 literally means “side” or “by the side of”, and in practice it covers:

“beside / next to”
“by”
“right near (at the side of)”

It implies that something is very close, to the side of another thing.

In this sentence:

教学楼旁边有一个安静的地方
- A quiet place that is right next to / by the teaching building.

If you wanted to say “in the general area, not necessarily right next to it,” you might use 附近 (“nearby”) instead:

教学楼附近有一个安静的地方。 – There is a quiet place near the teaching building.

Why is it 去那儿休息 and not 在那儿休息? What’s the difference?

去那儿休息 focuses on going there in order to rest.
在那儿休息 focuses on the action of resting at that location.

In the sentence:

校园里的学生喜欢去那儿休息。
- “The students on campus like to go there to rest.”
- The liking is about the habit of going to that place to relax.

If you say:

校园里的学生喜欢在那儿休息。
- “The students on campus like resting there.”
- Slightly more emphasis on the resting activity at that location, less on the act of going there.

Both are grammatical, but 去那儿休息 nicely conveys the idea: students head over there to take a break.

Why don’t we say 喜欢去那儿去休息? In English we might say “go there to rest” with “to”.

Chinese doesn’t use an extra “to” verb like English does. It simply puts two verbs in sequence:

去那儿休息
- 去 – go
- 那儿 – there
- 休息 – rest
- Overall: “go there (and) rest / go there to rest.”

You don’t repeat 去:

✗ 去那儿去休息 – sounds unnatural and redundant.

In Chinese, a common pattern is:

(Subject) + Verb1 + (Place) + Verb2
e.g. 我去图书馆看书。 – I go to the library (to) read.

What part of speech is 休息 here? Is it a verb or a noun?

In this sentence, 休息 is used as a verb: “to rest / to take a break.”

Chinese often uses 休息 as:

A verb: 我想休息一下。 – I want to rest a bit.
A noun: 休息时间 – break time; 休息室 – rest room / lounge.

Here, 去那儿休息 = “go there to rest”, so 休息 functions verbally.

Why is there no aspect marker like 了 after 去 or 休息? Shouldn’t it be 去那儿休息了?

The sentence is describing a general, habitual situation, not a specific completed event:

校园里的学生喜欢去那儿休息。
- “The students on campus like to go there to rest.” (as a regular habit)

In Chinese:

When talking about habits / general truths / repeated actions, we usually don’t use aspect markers like 了.
了 typically marks a completed event in the past (or a change of state).

If you say:

昨天，校园里的学生都去那儿休息了。
- “Yesterday the students on campus all went there to rest.”
- Now you’re referring to a specific completed action, so 了 is appropriate.

In the original sentence, the timeless preference “like to go there” does not need 了.