Questions & Answers about gōngyuán lí wǒ jiā bù yuǎn.
离 (lí) means “away from / apart from” and is used to talk about distance between two things.
The basic pattern is:
Place A + 离 + Place B + (很 / 不 / 挺 etc.) + adjective about distance
So:
- 公园 离 我家 不远。
= The park is not far from my home.
Other examples:
- 学校离这儿很近。 – The school is very close to here.
- 北京离上海很远。 – Beijing is far from Shanghai.
In Chinese, both adjectives and certain patterns with 离 can act like verbs and don’t need 是.
You don’t say:
- ✗ 公园是离我家不远。
You just say:
- 公园离我家不远。
Think of the whole “离…不远” chunk as the predicate (“is not far from …”), so 是 is not needed.
Both are possible, with a small nuance:
公园离我家不远。
Literally “The park is not far from my home.”
→ Often feels a bit softer / neutral, like “It’s fairly close / it’s not far.”公园离我家很近。
Literally “The park is very near my home.”
→ Sounds a bit stronger: it’s clearly close.
You cannot normally drop the adverb and just say:
- ★ 公园离我家近。 – This can appear in colloquial speech, but standard textbook style prefers 很近 or 不远.
In Chinese:
不 is used to negate adjectives and most verbs in a general sense:
- 不远 – not far
- 不大 – not big
没 / 没有 is mainly for past actions, completion, or possession:
- 没去 – did not go
- 没有钱 – don’t have money
Since 远 is an adjective (“far”), we use 不远, not ✗没有远.
Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing:
- 公园离我家不远。 – The park is not far from my home.
- 我家离公园不远。 – My home is not far from the park.
The topic (what you start with) is slightly different:
- If you’re talking about the park, you might start with 公园.
- If you’re talking about your home, you might start with 我家.
In practice, native speakers use both depending on what they want to emphasize or what has just been mentioned.
That’s not natural. You normally use:
- 公园离我家不远。 – using 离 to talk about distance.
- 公园在我家附近。 – using 在…附近 (“to be in the vicinity of / near”) to talk about location.
So for “not far from,” use 离 + distance adjective.
For “near / in the area of,” you can use 在…附近.
我家 can mean:
My home / my place / my house – in sentences about distance, location, coming/going:
- 公园离我家不远。 – The park is not far from my home.
My family / my household – in some contexts:
- 我家有四口人。 – There are four people in my family.
Here, because it’s about distance, 我家 clearly means “my home / my house.”
Both 我家 and 我的家 are possible, but:
我家 is shorter and more natural in everyday speech, especially for:
- family members: 我妈, 我哥, 我爷爷
- home: 我家
我的家 can sound a bit more formal or emphatic, like “my home (as opposed to someone else’s).”
In this sentence, 公园离我家不远 is the normal, natural choice.
No measure word is required here.
- 公园离我家不远。
→ “The park is not far from my home.” (Refers to a specific or context‑known park.)
Adding 一个:
- 一个公园离我家不远。
→ “There’s a park that is not far from my home.”
This sounds like introducing one (unspecified) park; it’s possible, but the meaning shifts slightly.
For “the park (we both know about) is not far from my home,” just 公园 is fine.
Chinese does not mark tense the same way English does. 公园离我家不远 by itself is time‑neutral.
The time reference usually comes from:
- context: what you are talking about
- time words: 现在, 以前, 那时候, etc.
Examples:
- 现在公园离我家不远。 – Now the park is not far from my home.
- 以前公园离我家很远。 – Before the park was far from my home.
In isolation, 公园离我家不远 is usually understood as present.
No, that’s not idiomatic. When you talk about distance between two places, you either:
- Use 离:
- 公园离我家很近。 – The park is very close to my home.
- Or rephrase with 在…附近:
- 公园在我家附近。 – The park is near my home.
Placing 很近 directly before 我家 like 公园很近我家 is not standard.
Common ways:
Using 吗:
- 公园离你家不远吗？
→ Is the park not far from your home?
- 公园离你家不远吗？
Using an adjective A‑not‑A pattern:
- 公园离你家远不远？
→ Is the park far from your home (or not)?
- 公园离你家远不远？
Both are natural; the second one is a bit more colloquial.