Learn Hardcore Chinese: xuéxiào měinián dōu yǒu huánjìng bǎohù de huódòng, xuéshēng men dōu hěn yuànyì cānjiā. - Every year the school has environmental protection activities, and the students are all very willing to participate.

学校每年都有环境保护的活动
Literally: The school, every year, all has environmental-protection activities.
Here 都 emphasizes “every year without exception”.
- 每年都有 ≈ every single year there are…
学生们都很愿意参加
Literally: The students all are very willing to participate.
Here 都 means “all” / “both/all of them”.

So:

First 都 = every one of the years
Second 都 = every one of the students

Both are adverbs that emphasize “no exceptions” for the set they refer to (years / students).

Can I leave out 都? What changes if I say 学校每年有… or 学生们很愿意参加?

You can leave 都 out; the sentence still makes sense, but the nuance changes.

学校每年有环境保护的活动
- Meaning: The school has environmental protection activities every year.
- Nuance: Factual, but without stressing “every single year without fail.”
学校每年都有环境保护的活动
- Adds emphasis that every year, without exception, such activities are held.
学生们很愿意参加
- Meaning: The students are very willing to take part.
- Could imply a general statement, or that “the students” as a group are willing.
学生们都很愿意参加
- Emphasizes each and every student is willing.

So 都 is not grammatically required, but it adds the sense of “all / every time / without exception.”

What is the function of 的 (de) in 环境保护的活动? Why not just 环境保护活动?

的 marks a modifier that describes a noun.

环境保护 (huánjìng bǎohù) = environmental protection
活动 (huódòng) = activity, activities

环境保护的活动 literally means “activities of environmental protection” or “environmental-protection-type activities.”

About the variants:

环境保护的活动
- Very clear: “activities related to environmental protection.”
- Common and natural.
环境保护活动
- Noun–noun compound: “environmental protection activities.”
- Also common and natural. Slightly more compact, a bit more formal or headline-like.
保护环境的活动
- Literally: “activities that protect the environment.”
- Focuses on the purpose / action (to protect the environment).

All three are acceptable, but the original 环境保护的活动 is very natural in everyday written Chinese.

Is 环境保护 more like a verb phrase “protect the environment” or a noun phrase “environmental protection”? How is it different from 保护环境?

环境保护 (huánjìng bǎohù) functions mainly as a noun phrase: environmental protection (the concept / field / cause).
保护环境 (bǎohù huánjìng) is more clearly a verb phrase: to protect the environment (the action).

Compare:

环境保护的活动 – activities related to environmental protection (the field).
保护环境的活动 – activities that protect the environment (what they actually do).

In many contexts they overlap and both are acceptable; the difference is more about perspective (concept vs. action) than strict grammar.

Why do we use 有 (yǒu) in 学校每年都有环境保护的活动? Is it “have” or “there is/are”? Could I use 举行 / 举办 instead?

Here 有 is an existential / possessive verb meaning something between “have” and “there is/are.”

学校每年都有环境保护的活动
- Natural English: Every year the school has environmental-protection activities.
- Or: At the school there are environmental-protection activities every year.

You could also say:

学校每年都举行环境保护的活动。
学校每年都举办环境保护的活动。

举行 / 举办 both mean “to hold / to organize (an event)” and sound a bit more formal or specific about the school actively organizing the activities.
有 is more neutral; it just states that such activities take place / exist at the school each year.

Why is it 每年都 and not 都每年? Where does 都 usually go in the sentence?

都 normally goes after the subject and any time words, and before the main verb.

Typical pattern: > Subject + (time word) + 都 + Verb + Object

So:

学校每年都有环境保护的活动
- Subject: 学校
- Time: 每年
- Adverb: 都
- Verb: 有

都每年有… is not normal word order.

Other examples:

我们 每天都 学中文。(We study Chinese every day.)
他们都喜欢喝茶。(They all like to drink tea.)

Why is 学生 written as 学生们 here? When do I need 们 (men)?

们 is an optional plural marker for people (and some animals).

学生 can mean:
- a student
- students (in general)
- the students (as a group, depending on context)
学生们 usually refers to a specific group of students in the situation being talked about (e.g. the students at this school, in this class, at this event).

In this sentence:

学生们都很愿意参加
→ “The students (of this school / in this context) all really want to take part.”

You could also say 学生都很愿意参加; it’s still correct. 学生们 slightly emphasizes “these students as a group.”

Why is 很 (hěn) in 都很愿意? Does it mean “very” here? Can I say 学生们都愿意参加?

很 literally means “very”, but in modern Mandarin it often works as a “link” or a softener before adjectives and adjective-like verbs.

愿意 (yuànyì) behaves like an adjective / stative verb: “to be willing”.
学生们都很愿意参加
- Natural English: “The students are (all) very willing to take part.”
- 很 here:
  - softens the statement
  - can indicate a real degree (“very willing”), but often it’s not strongly emphasized.

You can say:

学生们都愿意参加。

This is grammatically correct and a bit stronger / more direct. Sometimes X 都愿意 can sound more emphatic or even a little abrupt, depending on tone:

with 很: more natural in neutral, descriptive statements.
without 很: can feel more like a plain logical statement, or more emphatic.

In everyday speech, 都很愿意 sounds very natural.

What’s the difference between 愿意 (yuànyì), 想 (xiǎng), and 要 (yào)?

They all relate to intention / desire, but with different focuses:

愿意 – to be willing (to do something)
- Emphasizes willingness / readiness, often with a polite or positive tone.
- Example: 我很愿意帮你。(I’m very willing / happy to help you.)
想 – to want / to feel like (doing something)
- Emphasizes an inner wish or thought.
- Example: 我想参加。(I want to take part.)
要 – to want / to be going to / must
- Can express strong desire, plan, or requirement / obligation.
- Example: 我明年要参加。(I’m going to take part next year.)

In our sentence:

学生们都很愿意参加
→ Focus: They are willing and happy to join, not forced.

If you said:

学生们都很想参加
→ Focus: They want to join (they feel like joining).

Both are possible, but 愿意 stresses attitude of willingness, which fits well with activities the school offers.

Why is the verb 参加 (cānjiā) used? Could I just say 学生们都很愿意去?

参加 specifically means “to take part in / participate in / join (an activity, competition, organization, etc.)”.

参加活动 = take part in activities / participate in the event.

If you say:

学生们都很愿意去。
- Literally: “The students are all willing to go.”
- This tells us they’re willing to go (to some place), but doesn’t clearly say they will participate in an activity there.

So for activities, competitions, meetings, you usually use:

参加活动 – participate in activities
参加比赛 – take part in a competition
参加会议 – attend / take part in a meeting

去 just means “go,” without the participation idea.

The second clause doesn’t say what they participate in. Is it understood that it’s those activities?

Yes. This is a very common pattern in Chinese: if the object is obvious from the context, it can be omitted.

Full version:
学生们都很愿意参加这些环境保护的活动。
Shorter, natural version:
学生们都很愿意参加。

Because the previous clause mentioned 环境保护的活动, listeners automatically understand that 参加 refers to those activities.

In context, leaving out the object is natural and not ambiguous.

Is the comma ， just joining two complete sentences? Could it be a period or a connector like 而且?

Yes, the comma ， is linking two closely related clauses:

学校每年都有环境保护的活动，
学生们都很愿意参加。

You could write:

学校每年都有环境保护的活动。学生们都很愿意参加。
→ Two separate sentences; still correct, just slightly less flowing.

You could also use a connector:

学校每年都有环境保护的活动，而且学生们都很愿意参加。
→ Every year the school has environmental-protection activities, and the students are also very willing to participate.

The original comma simply creates a smooth, factual “situation + reaction” structure:

Situation: the school holds such activities every year.
Reaction: the students are all willing to participate.

If I want to say the students are not willing to participate, how do I negate 愿意? Is it 不愿意 or 没愿意?

You use 不 to negate 愿意:

不愿意 (bú yuànyì) = not willing / unwilling / don’t want to (in the sense of “not willing”).

So:

学生们都不愿意参加。
→ The students are all unwilling to participate.

没愿意 is incorrect here. 没 is used with 有, past actions, and certain verbs, but 愿意 is a stative verb / adjective-like, so it takes 不 for negation.