Breakdown of wǒmen zài túshūguǎn rènzhēn fùxí Hànzì.
Questions & Answers about wǒmen zài túshūguǎn rènzhēn fùxí Hànzì.
Here 在 works like a preposition meaning “at / in”, introducing the place where the action happens.
Basic pattern:
- Subject + 在 + place + Verb (+ Object)
- 我们在图书馆复习汉字。
→ We review Chinese characters in the library.
- 我们在图书馆复习汉字。
So 在图书馆 is a place phrase: in the library. It tells where the action 复习 happens.
Yes, you can say 在图书馆里. Both are correct:
- 我们在图书馆认真复习汉字。
- 我们在图书馆里认真复习汉字。
Nuance:
- 在图书馆 – neutral “at/in the library”.
- 在图书馆里 – emphasizes “inside the library”, as opposed to outside the building.
In many cases, especially with buildings/rooms, 里 is optional, and everyday speech often just uses 在图书馆.
认真 is originally an adjective meaning “serious, conscientious”, and before a verb it functions like an adverb: “seriously, conscientiously, with full attention”.
In this sentence:
- 认真复习汉字 ≈ to review Chinese characters seriously / conscientiously
→ You are focused, thorough, not casual.
Compared with English:
- It’s broader than just “carefully” (小心) which is often about avoiding danger or mistakes.
- 认真 is more about your attitude and effort: you take the task seriously.
In Chinese, most adverbs of manner go before the main verb:
- Subject + (Time) + (Place) + [Manner adverb] + Verb + Object
So:
- 我们在图书馆认真复习汉字。
- 认真 modifies 复习, so it appears right before it.
Other common patterns:
- 我们在图书馆复习汉字，复习得很认真。
(We review characters in the library; we review very seriously.)
Here 很认真 comes after the verb, connected by 得, as a comment on how the action is done.
But you cannot say:
- ✗ 我们在图书馆复习认真汉字。
This is ungrammatical. The adverb should be directly before the verb or in a …得很认真 structure afterward.
的 is usually used when an adjective modifies a noun:
- 认真的学生 – a serious student
- 新的书 – a new book
But here 复习 is a verb, not a noun, so 的 is not used.
If you want to make 认真 more explicitly adverbial and a bit more formal, you can use 地:
- 认真地复习汉字。
In modern spoken Chinese, the 地 is often dropped when it’s clear from context, so:
- 认真复习汉字 and 认真地复习汉字
mean basically the same thing; the version without 地 is very common.
- 学习 – to learn / to study (general learning, possibly new material)
- 学习汉语 – to learn Chinese
- 复习 – to review / to go over (again) material you have already learned
- 复习汉字 – to review Chinese characters (that you’ve studied before)
- 练习 – to practice (do exercises, drills, repetition to improve skill)
- 练习写汉字 – to practice writing Chinese characters
So in this sentence, 复习汉字 emphasizes reviewing previously learned characters, not learning them for the first time and not just random practice exercises.
A measure word is only needed when you:
- count something, or
- specify a quantity.
Here, 汉字 is used in a general, uncounted sense:
- 复习汉字 – review Chinese characters (in general / the ones for the lesson, etc.)
If you want to be specific, then you add a number or quantifier + measure word:
- 复习三个汉字 – review three characters
- 复习一些汉字 – review some characters
- 复习很多汉字 – review many characters
Without such words, the bare 汉字 is natural and means “Chinese characters” in a general way.
These three words focus on slightly different things:
- 汉字 – Chinese characters (the written symbols)
- 复习汉字 – review the characters themselves (their forms, writing, recognition)
- 汉语 – the Chinese language (often focusing on spoken language or the language as a whole)
- 学习汉语 – study Chinese (the language)
- 中文 – Chinese language / Chinese (as a subject), often used in school or as “the Chinese language” in a broad sense
So:
- If you are specifically going over characters, you say 汉字.
- If you are studying the language in general, you might say 学汉语 or 学中文.
This sentence is clearly about characters, so 汉字 is the most precise choice.
Typical word order in Chinese is:
Subject + Time + Place + Manner + Verb + Object
So you can say:
- 我们今天在图书馆认真复习汉字。
- 我们现在在图书馆认真复习汉字。
You can also put the time at the very beginning as a topic:
- 今天我们在图书馆认真复习汉字。
Both are natural. Just avoid splitting 在图书馆 in an odd way. The basic sequence (Time) + 在 + Place is very stable.
In Chinese, 是 is not a general “helper verb” like English “to be” before every verb.
- You do not say: ✗ 我们是复习汉字。
You normally use 是 to link two nouns / noun phrases:
- 他是老师。 – He is a teacher.
Your sentence already has a full verb (复习), so you just say:
- 我们在图书馆认真复习汉字。
If you say:
- 我们是在图书馆认真复习汉字的。
you’re using 是…的 to emphasize or clarify where the action happened (e.g., in contrast to somewhere else), often referring to a past event. Without that special emphasis, you simply omit 是.
Chinese has two common uses of 在:
Location: 在 + place
- 我们在图书馆。 – We are in the library.
- 我们在图书馆复习汉字。 – We review Chinese characters in the library.
Progressive aspect (ongoing action): 在 + Verb phrase
- 我们在复习汉字。 – We are reviewing Chinese characters (right now).
In 我们在图书馆认真复习汉字, the 在 is clearly the location one, because it is followed by 图书馆 (a place), not directly by a verb.
If you want both location and progressive, you usually use 正在:
- 我们正在图书馆认真复习汉字。
→ We are currently reviewing Chinese characters in the library.
You normally do not say: ✗ 我们在图书馆在复习汉字。
Tones in the key words:
- 我们 – wǒmen (3 + neutral)
- 在 – zài (4)
- 图书馆 – túshūguǎn (2–1–3)
- 认真 – rènzhēn (4–1)
- 复习 – fùxí (4–2)
- 汉字 – Hànzì (4–4)
Important points:
- There is no third-tone sandhi pair like 3–3 here, so no change like 3→2.
- For two fourth tones in a row (like 汉字, 4–4), both syllables are still 4th tone.
In natural speech, the first 4th tone (汉) may be a bit shorter and slightly less heavy, but it does not change to another tone the way 3rd tones do.
So just pronounce both as clear falling tones, with the second perhaps a bit more prominent: Hàn (fall) + zì (fall).
In standard pinyin writing conventions:
- Proper nouns (names of people, places, ethnic groups, etc.) are capitalized.
- 汉 refers to the Han people / Han ethnicity, and by extension Chinese (as opposed to other ethnic scripts/languages).
- 字 means character.
So 汉字 (Hànzì) literally means “Han characters / Chinese characters”, and Hàn is treated as a proper name. Therefore:
- Hànzì – capital H
- But ordinary words like wǒmen, zài, túshūguǎn are not proper nouns, so they stay lowercase.
Grammatically, yes: Chinese can often omit the subject if it is clear from context.
- 在图书馆认真复习汉字。
Possible interpretations:
- As a description, when the subject is obvious from context:
(We / they) are reviewing Chinese characters seriously in the library. - As a command / instruction, depending on tone and context:
Review Chinese characters carefully in the library.
However:
- In a neutral, self-contained sentence, it is more natural and clearer to keep 我们.
- Subject dropping is common in conversation, where it is obvious who “we” or “you” are, but in textbooks, examples, or formal writing, the subject is often stated explicitly.