Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ xǐhuan qù nàr sànbù.

a noun:
- 我喜欢咖啡。 (I like coffee.)
a verb or verb phrase directly:
- 我喜欢唱歌。 (I like singing / to sing.)
- 我喜欢去那儿散步。 (I like to go there for walks.)

Chinese does not need a marker like English to or -ing. The structure is simply:

喜欢 + [action]

So:

喜欢去那儿散步 = “like [go there take walks]”
English has to choose between “like to go” / “like going”, but Chinese just uses the bare verbs.

What is the function of 去 (qù) here? How is 我喜欢去那儿散步 different from 我喜欢在那儿散步?

去 (qù) means “to go.” In 我喜欢去那儿散步, the idea is:

I like going there (and then) taking a walk.

Two common patterns:

我喜欢去那儿散步。
- Emphasis: the going there plus the walking as a whole activity.
- Often implies it’s not where you are now; you travel there, then walk.
我喜欢在那儿散步。
- Emphasis: the walking at that place.
- Focus is more on the location of the walking, less on the act of going there.

Both are grammatical and natural; they just highlight slightly different parts of the situation. In many contexts, they’re almost interchangeable.

Why is there no 在 (zài) before 那儿 in this sentence? Would 我喜欢在那儿散步 be wrong?

我喜欢在那儿散步 is correct and common; it just has a slightly different focus (see previous answer).

With 去那儿散步:
- Structure: 去 + place + verb
- Focus: going to that place and walking.
With 在那儿散步:
- Structure: 在 + place + verb
- Focus: the action taking place at that location.

You don’t say 在那儿去散步 here; that would be awkward. You choose 去 (go to) or 在 (at), not both before the same place in this sentence.

Why is the word order 去那儿散步 and not something like 散步去那儿?

Chinese generally follows this pattern:

[verb of motion] + [destination] + [main activity (if any)]

So:

去那儿散步 = go there (and) take a walk

Putting 散步 before 去那儿 would break that pattern:

散步去那儿 sounds odd or unclear in modern Mandarin; it would literally be like “walk-for-exercise go there,” which isn’t the usual way to describe this.

Other examples of the same pattern:

去公园玩。 (go to the park and play)
去北京出差。 (go to Beijing on a business trip)

So 去那儿散步 fits the normal motion → destination → activity order.

What exactly does 散步 (sànbù) mean? Is it a verb, a noun, or something else?

散步 (sànbù) is a verb-object compound meaning “to take a walk / to go for a walk.”

As a whole, it functions like a verb:
- 我喜欢散步。 (I like taking walks.)
You can sometimes insert things between 散 and 步, treating 步 as the object:
- 散一会儿步。 (take a walk for a while)
- 散散步。 (take a little walk; the doubled 散 softens the tone)

In your sentence, 去那儿散步 is:

go there + (do the activity of walking-for-exercise)

So you can think of 散步 as “to stroll / to walk (for leisure).”

What is the difference between 那儿 (nàr), 那里 (nàli), and 那边 (nàbiān)? Which one should I use?

All three roughly mean “there,” but with slightly different flavors and regional tendencies.

那儿 (nàr)
- Very common in northern Mandarin (e.g. Beijing).
- Uses the -儿 (-r) “erhua” ending.
- Sounds very natural in spoken northern-style Mandarin.
那里 (nàli)
- Common and neutral; widely understood everywhere.
- Often preferred in southern regions and in more formal or standard contexts.
- Very safe choice in writing and in cross-regional speech.
那边 (nàbiān)
- Literally “that side / over there.”
- Slightly more spatial / directional feel: “over there in that area.”

In your sentence, all of these work:

我喜欢去那儿散步。
我喜欢去那里散步。
我喜欢去那边散步。

They’re all natural. 那里 is the most neutral; 那儿 sounds more northern.

Is 那儿 (nàr) pronounced as one syllable or two? And why is 喜欢 written xǐhuan and not xǐhuān?

那儿 (nàr)
- Written in pinyin as nàr (one syllable) but conceptually it’s 那 (nà) + 儿 (er).
- The 儿 (er) here is not a full syllable “ér”; it’s an “erhua” suffix that modifies the previous syllable’s sound.
- So you pronounce it kind of like “nar” in one beat: nàr.
喜欢 (xǐhuan)
- The second syllable 欢 is pronounced with a neutral tone here, so it’s huan (no tone mark), not huān.
- Real pronunciation: xǐ·huan (3rd tone + neutral).
- Many common verbs and adjectives have a neutral-tone second syllable:
  - 知道 zhīdào
  - 觉得 juéde
  - 认识 rènshi

So:

那儿 → nàr (one syllable with erhua)
喜欢 → xǐhuan (3rd tone + neutral tone)

How do I know what tense 我喜欢去那儿散步 is in, since there is no past / present / future marker?

Chinese does not mark tense the same way English does. Instead, it relies on:

context
time words (昨天, 明天, 常常, etc.)
aspect markers (了, 过, 着, 在)

By default, 我喜欢去那儿散步 describes a general, habitual preference:

I like going there for walks.
I enjoy going there for walks.

Depending on context, it could be:

talking about your current, ongoing preference
describing a general truth about you
even used with a time word to anchor it:
- 以前我喜欢去那儿散步。 (In the past, I liked to go there for walks.)
- 将来我也会喜欢去那儿散步。 (In the future, I’ll also like going there for walks.)

The sentence itself is tenseless; context gives you the time frame.

Can I add 了 (le) in this sentence, like 我喜欢去那儿散步了?

In this sentence, adding 了 is usually not natural.

我喜欢去那儿散步。
- States a general liking / habit. No 了 needed or expected.

Adding 了 after the whole sentence:

我喜欢去那儿散步了。
- This can sound odd or at best very context-dependent, as if you’re saying “I have now come to like going there for walks (but I didn’t before).”

To express that change more clearly, people usually say:

我现在喜欢去那儿散步了。
(Now I like going there for walks — I didn’t before.)

In general, with 喜欢, when you’re just talking about a stable preference, you don’t add 了.

What is the difference between 我喜欢去那儿散步, 我爱去那儿散步, and 我想去那儿散步?

They all contain 去那儿散步, but the verbs express different attitudes:

我喜欢去那儿散步。
- “I like going there for walks.”
- Neutral level of liking/habit.
我爱去那儿散步。
- Literally “I love going there for walks.”
- In daily speech, 爱 (ài) for activities can sound stronger or more emotional, but it’s also used quite casually in some contexts (e.g. 我爱吃辣的).
- More emphatic than 喜欢.
我想去那儿散步。
- “I want to go there for a walk.”
- Expresses a current desire / intention, not a general preference.
- Could refer to right now or to the near future, depending on context.

So:

喜欢 = like (general preference)
爱 = love / really like (more intense)
想 = want (right now or in a given situation)

Can I leave out 我 (wǒ) and just say 喜欢去那儿散步?

In a full, standalone sentence, you normally keep 我:

我喜欢去那儿散步。

Dropping 我 is only natural in specific contexts where the subject is already clear, for example:

In a list under your name in a profile:
- 喜欢去那儿散步，喜欢看电影。
  (Liking to go there for walks, liking to watch movies.)
In casual speech when someone just asked 你呢？ and you answer with a fragment.

But as a neutral, complete sentence, you should include the subject:

我喜欢去那儿散步。 ✅
喜欢去那儿散步。 → felt as a fragment unless context is very clear.

Can I just say 我喜欢散步 or 我喜欢去那儿? How do those differ from 我喜欢去那儿散步?

Yes, both are grammatical, but they say slightly different things:

我喜欢散步。
- “I like taking walks.”
- General hobby; no specific location.
我喜欢去那儿。
- “I like going there.”
- You enjoy that place or the act of going there, but not specifying what you do there.
我喜欢去那儿散步。
- Combines both: you like going there specifically in order to take walks.
- More precise.

So your original sentence is more detailed: it tells us what you like doing there, not just that you like going there or that you like walking in general.