Questions & Answers about wǒ xǐhuan qù nàr sànbù.
Why can 喜欢 be followed directly by other verbs like 去 and 散步 without using something like “to” or “-ing”, the way English would?
In Chinese, 喜欢 (xǐhuan) can take:
- 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 in this sentence? Would be wrong?