Learn Hardcore Chinese: Zhè jǐ tiān zuòyè tài duō, kāixīn de xīnqíng dōu biànchéng le shòubuliǎo de yālì. - These days there’s too much homework; my happy mood has all turned into unbearable pressure.

这几天 (zhè jǐ tiān) literally means “these few days” and usually refers to a fairly short, concrete span of days around now (e.g. the last 2–7 days).
最近 (zuìjìn) means “recently / lately” and is more flexible and a bit vaguer in time; it doesn’t specify “days” and can feel slightly more abstract.

In this sentence, 这几天作业太多 emphasizes a specific short period: “These past few days, there has been too much homework.” Using 最近 would be okay too, but 这几天 sounds a bit more like you’re counting a small number of days.

Where is the subject “I” in this sentence? Why is there no 我?

Chinese often omits pronouns when they’re obvious from context. Here, everything is clearly about the speaker’s own situation, so 我 (“I”) is dropped.

You can imagine a fuller version as:

(我) 这几天作业太多，(我的) 开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力。

The omitted 我 and 我的 are understood. This is very natural in spoken and written Chinese when the subject is clear.

Why can the sentence just say 作业太多 instead of something like 有很多作业 or 作业是太多了?

In Chinese, “Noun + 太多 / 很多 / 不多 …” is a very common and natural pattern meaning “There is too much / a lot / not much [noun].”

So:

作业太多 = “Homework is too much / There is too much homework.”
Adding 有 (有很多作业) is also correct, but not necessary. 作业太多 is short and colloquial, very common in speech.
作业是太多了 adds extra emphasis (almost like “the homework really is too much, you know”), and feels more emotional or argumentative.

What’s the difference between 太多 and 很多 in 作业太多?

太多 (tài duō) literally “too much” = excessive, beyond what is acceptable. It usually has a negative or complaining tone.
很多 (hěn duō) = “a lot / many,” neutral; it doesn’t automatically mean “too much.”

So:

作业太多 → “There’s too much homework (I can’t stand it).”
作业很多 → “There’s a lot of homework (just a fact, maybe OK, maybe not).”

The original sentence uses 太多 to support the idea of 受不了的压力 (“unbearable pressure”).

Why say 开心的心情? Isn’t that redundant? What’s the role of the first 的?

的 links modifiers to nouns. Here:

开心 (kāixīn) = “happy” (an adjective)
心情 (xīnqíng) = “mood”
开心的心情 = “a happy mood / happy feelings”

It is slightly redundant if translated word‑for‑word into English (“happy mood feelings”), but in Chinese it’s very natural. You can think of it as emphasizing “(my previously) happy mood.”

Other natural options:

心情很好 (“my mood was very good”)
很开心 (just “very happy” without saying 心情)

Here, 开心的心情 sets up a clear noun phrase that later becomes 压力 (“stress”) when it 变成了 (“turns into”) something else.

What does 都 do in 开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力? There’s only one “mood,” so why use 都 (“all”)?

都 (dōu) often means “all,” “both,” “entirely,” “completely.” It doesn’t have to mean there are many clearly counted items. In this sentence, it has an emphatic and intensifying role.

开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力 implies:

“My happy mood has entirely/completely turned into unbearable stress.”

Even if you think of it as many “moments” or “bits” of happiness, 都 bundles them together: they have all turned into stress. You could omit 都 and still be correct, but you’d lose some of that “every last bit of it” feeling.

What’s the function of 了 in 变成了? How is it different from saying 变成 without 了?

变成 (biànchéng) = “to change into / to become.”
Adding 了 after it marks the completion of a change of state.

变成了 emphasizes “has (now) become” → the transformation is done.
变成 (without 了) can sound a bit more general, habitual, or less focused on “this change just (or already) happened.”

In this sentence, 变成了 fits well because we’re talking about a completed shift from happy mood to unbearable pressure: “has turned into” rather than “turns into (in general).”

Is the 了 in 受不了 the same as the 了 in 变成了?

No, they are different types of 了:

受不了 (shòu bù liǎo)
- Here 了 / 了 (liǎo) is part of a potential/result complement structure V + 不 + 了, meaning “cannot V / cannot stand V.”
- It’s a fixed pattern; you cannot just delete this 了.
- 受不了 = “can’t take it,” “can’t stand it,” “it’s unbearable.”
变成了 (biànchéng le)
- This 了 (le) is a sentence‑level aspect particle marking a completed change.
- It can sometimes be omitted without breaking the grammar, though it slightly changes the nuance.

So they are written the same but serve different grammatical functions and are pronounced differently (liǎo vs le).

What exactly is 受不了 grammatically? Is it a verb, an adjective, or something else?

受不了 comes from 受 (shòu, to bear/withstand) + 不 (bù, not) + 了 (liǎo, to manage/finish). Together they form a verb phrase meaning “cannot bear / cannot stand.”

However, in use it can behave like an adjective (a state):

我受不了。 → “I can’t stand it.” (verb‑like predicate)
受不了的压力 → “unbearable pressure.” (here, the verb phrase is used as an attributive clause modifying 压力; the whole thing functions adjectivally, like “(pressure that I) cannot stand.”)

How does 受不了的压力 work grammatically? Why do we need 的 here?

的 links a verb/verb phrase or clause to a noun to form something like an English relative clause or adjective phrase.

受不了 = “(I) can’t stand (it)”
受不了的压力 literally = “pressure (that I) can’t stand” → “unbearable pressure.”

Without 的, 受不了压力 would be read more as “(I) can’t stand (the) pressure” — a full clause with 受不了 as the predicate and 压力 as the object.
With 的, it becomes a noun phrase describing a type of pressure: “unbearable pressure.”

Why is there a comma between 作业太多 and 开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力? Is this a cause‑and‑effect structure?

Yes. In Chinese, putting two clauses side by side with a comma is a common way to show cause and effect or sequence, even without explicit words like “because / so.”

Here:

这几天作业太多， → “These days, there’s too much homework,” (reason / cause)
开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力。 → “(So) my happy mood has all turned into unbearable pressure.” (result / effect)

You could also make the relationship explicit:

因为这几天作业太多，所以开心的心情都变成了受不了的压力。
But in everyday Chinese, simply using the comma is very natural.

Could this sentence be made shorter but keep roughly the same meaning?

Yes, several more concise versions are possible, for example:

这几天作业太多，心情都变成了受不了的压力。
(Drop 开心的; “These days there’s too much homework; my mood has turned into unbearable pressure.”)
这几天作业太多，开心都变成了压力。
(More casual: “These days there’s too much homework; all my happiness has turned into pressure.”)
这几天作业太多，压力大得受不了。
(“These days there’s too much homework; the pressure is so big I can’t stand it.”)

The original is a bit more vivid and expressive, but these are all natural.

How do we know this means “has turned into” and not “will turn into” or “turns into (habitually)”?

Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does; it relies on context, time words, and aspect markers like 了.

Here, several things point to a present result / recent past reading (“has turned into”):

这几天 suggests a period including the recent past and “around now.”
变成了 with 了 marks a completed change of state.
Together they strongly imply: “Over these past few days, my happy mood has (now) turned into unbearable pressure.”

For a future meaning, you’d normally add something like 会 (“will”) or a clear future time word.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would it be natural in everyday conversation?

The sentence is natural and slightly expressive, suitable for spoken Mandarin and for informal writing (like messages, social media, personal essays).

Phrases like 这几天作业太多, 心情, 受不了的压力 are all common in everyday speech. The structure is clear and emotional but not slangy, so it can also appear in lighter written texts (blog posts, diaries, etc.), though for very formal writing you might rephrase it more neutrally.