Breakdown of jiārén yìzhí zhīchí wǒ zài zhèlǐ xué zhōngwén.
Questions & Answers about jiārén yìzhí zhīchí wǒ zài zhèlǐ xué zhōngwén.
In Chinese, possession is often left unstated when it’s obvious from context.
Here, you’re talking about your own experience (支持我在这里学中文 – supporting me to study here), so it’s clear that 家人 means your family. Adding 我 is not wrong, but it’s unnecessary.
- 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
= natural, normal - 我的家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
= also correct, slightly more explicit/emphatic that it’s my family
Spoken Chinese often omits pronouns and 的 (de) when the owner is obvious.
All three relate to “family,” but they focus on different things:
家 (jiā)
- can mean “home” or “family” as a unit
- e.g. 我家在北京。 – My home/family is in Beijing.
家人 (jiārén)
- literally “family people” → family members
- focuses on the people in your family (parents, siblings, etc.)
- e.g. 我家人都很支持我。 – My family members all support me.
家庭 (jiātíng)
- more formal/abstract, “family” as a social unit or concept
- often used in written language, sociology, official talk
- e.g. 家庭关系, 家庭收入 – family relationships, family income
In your sentence, 家人 is best because you are talking about the actual people who support you.
一直 literally means “all the way in one straight line,” and in time it means “continuously; the whole time; all along.”
In your sentence:
- 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
= My family have always / have continuously supported me studying Chinese here.
Nuance:
- 一直 emphasizes no breaks in that support from some point in the past up to now.
- It’s closer to “all along / all the time” than a general “often” or “usually.”
Compare:
- 家人支持我在这里学中文。
– My family support me studying Chinese here. (no time emphasis) - 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
– They have been supporting me the whole time, from the start until now.
In this sentence, 一直 is an adverb modifying the verb 支持. The normal place for such adverbs is before the main verb:
- ✅ 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
Other possibilities:
- 一直家人支持我在这里学中文。 – ❌ wrong; adverbs don’t go before the subject like this.
- 家人支持我一直在这里学中文。 – grammatically possible, but now 一直 modifies 在这里学中文, meaning “always be here studying Chinese,” which changes the meaning.
So for “have always supported,” keep:
[Subject] + 一直 + [main verb] …
家人 + 一直 + 支持 …
Both relate to helping, but they focus on different aspects:
支持 (zhīchí) – “support” (emotionally, financially, in principle)
- to be in favor of, back someone’s decision, stand behind someone
- e.g. 父母很支持我的决定。 – My parents strongly support my decision.
帮助 (bāngzhù) – “help” (actually doing things for you)
- to give practical assistance
- e.g. 他帮助我学习中文。 – He helps me study Chinese.
In your sentence:
- 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
– My family are in favor of and back my choice to study Chinese here.
It doesn’t necessarily say they are physically helping you with homework or money (though they might); the key point is their backing and approval.
Here’s the structure:
- 支持 (zhīchí) – main verb: “to support”
- Object of 支持 = the whole phrase 我在这里学中文
Inside that object:
- 我在这里学中文 is like a mini-sentence:
我 (I) + 在这里 (here) + 学中文 (study Chinese)
So the pattern is:
支持 + [someone + do something]
支持我在这里学中文
= support [me studying Chinese here]
English often uses “support me in doing X,” but Chinese can directly put the “me doing X” phrase as the object of 支持.
You could also say:
- 家人一直支持我。 – My family have always supported me.
(more general, not specifying how) - 家人一直支持我来这里学中文。 – support me to come here to study Chinese.
(slightly different emphasis: the act of coming here)
Chinese word order for place is different from English.
General rule:
[Subject] + 在 + [place] + [verb] + [object]
So:
- 我在这里学中文。
我 (I) + 在这里 (at here) + 学 (study) + 中文 (Chinese)
Putting the place after the verb, like:
- 我学中文在这里。 – ❌ unnatural in normal Chinese
is not how location is usually expressed.
So you should keep:
在这里学中文 = “(to) study Chinese here,” with 在这里 in front of the verb.
All can point to “here,” but with style and nuance differences:
这里 (zhèlǐ)
- standard, neutral “here”
- used in both spoken and written Chinese
这儿 (zhèr)
- more colloquial, common in northern speech (e.g. Beijing)
- sounds slightly more informal
- 我在这儿。 – I’m here.
这边 (zhèbiān)
- literally “this side,” often used like “over here / this area”
- can feel a bit softer or more polite
- 你到这边来。 – Come over here.
In your sentence, you could say:
- 在这里学中文 – neutral
- 在这儿学中文 – a bit more colloquial
- 在这边学中文 – “study Chinese over here (in this place/area)”
Both mean “to study / to learn,” and often they’re interchangeable. Nuance:
学
- shorter, more common in spoken Chinese
- usually takes a direct object (what you study)
- 学中文, 学英文, 学开车 (study Chinese, English, learning to drive)
学习
- slightly more formal or bookish
- used both transitively and intransitively
- 学习中文, 我在学习, 学习很重要 (studying is important)
In your sentence:
- 在这里学中文 – sounds natural and conversational.
- 在这里学习中文 – also correct; a bit more formal or careful.
Most everyday speech would use 学 here.
Mandarin doesn’t change verb forms for tense like English does. Instead, it relies on:
- time words (昨天, 现在, 明天)
- aspect particles (了, 过, 在)
- adverbs like 一直, 已经
In this sentence, 一直 provides the time/continuity meaning:
- 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。
Literally: “Family all-the-way support me here study Chinese.”
Interpreted as: “My family have always been supporting me studying Chinese here.”
Because you are probably talking about your current situation, listeners naturally read it as “from the past up to now” → present perfect in English.
In Chinese, many nouns are inherently collective or can be plural without 们. 家人 already implies multiple “family members” in most contexts.
- 家人 – normally understood as “family members (as a group)”
- 家人们 – possible, but sounds marked; often used for emphasis or in literary/emotional style, like “dear family members” in speeches or letters.
In a normal sentence like this, 家人 alone is the natural choice:
- 家人一直支持我在这里学中文。 – My family (members) have always supported me…