Learn Hardcore Chinese: yìfāngmiàn wǒ xiǎng zài jiā xiūxi, yìfāngmiàn yòu xiǎng gēn péngyou qù gōngyuán sànbù. - On one hand I want to rest at home; on the other hand I want to go take a walk in the park with friends.

一方面……另一方面…… sounds a bit more formal and explicitly highlights the second side as “the other side”.
一方面……一方面…… sounds a bit more colloquial/natural in everyday speech, and many speakers just repeat 一方面.

In your sentence, 一方面……一方面…… is completely natural. You could also say:

一方面我想在家休息，另一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。

That would still be correct and slightly more “bookish,” but the meaning is basically the same.

What is the function of 又 in “一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步”? Can I leave it out?

Here, 又 (yòu) has the meaning of “also / and at the same time / additionally”, and it links the second desire to the first one.

It emphasizes that there is another, additional desire that exists at the same time as the first one.
In context with 一方面, it helps underline the internal conflict: not only do I want to rest, I also want to go out.

If you remove 又:

一方面我想在家休息，一方面想跟朋友去公园散步。

This is still grammatically correct and understandable. The difference:

With 又: slightly more emphatic and natural; feels like “I also (on the other hand) want to …”
Without 又: more neutral; just two sides stated.

You could not replace 又 here with 也 or 还 directly without changing the feel.
也 and 还 have overlapping meanings (“also”, “still”), but they don’t fit as smoothly into this 一方面……一方面…… pattern in this sentence.

Why is the subject 我 omitted in the second part “一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步”?

In Chinese, if the subject is clear from context and doesn’t change, it is very common to omit it in subsequent clauses.

The full version would be:

一方面我想在家休息，一方面我又想跟朋友去公园散步。

This is perfectly correct, but it sounds a bit heavier and more repetitive.

Because both clauses talk about the same “I”, the second 我 can be dropped without any ambiguity:

一方面我想在家休息，一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。

This is very natural spoken Chinese.
If the subject changed between clauses, you would have to keep it to avoid confusion.

Why do we say 在家休息 and not something like 回家休息 or just 家休息?

在家休息 = “rest at home”
- 在 is a location preposition: “at / in / on”.
- This describes where the resting happens.
回家休息 = “go back home to rest”
- 回家 focuses on the movement back home.
- The emphasis is: first go home, then rest there.

In your sentence, the contrast is between:

staying at home and resting
vs.
going out with friends

So it makes sense to emphasize the state of being at home:

在家休息

Also, you cannot say just 家休息. You almost always need 在家 to mean “at home” (or 家里, 在家里).

在家 and 在家里 are both fine:
- 在家休息
- 在家里休息
  The meaning is the same; 在家 is slightly more concise.

What exactly does 想 (xiǎng) mean here? Is it “want” or “think”? Could I use 要 (yào) instead?

想 is a very flexible verb. Here it means “to want to / to feel like doing something”, not “to think”.

我想在家休息 ≈ “I want to rest at home / I feel like resting at home.”
我想跟朋友去公园散步 ≈ “I want to go for a walk in the park with friends.”

If you say:

一方面我要在家休息，一方面又要跟朋友去公园散步。

This is grammatically possible, but:

要 is often stronger and more decisive, like “I intend to / I’m going to / I must”.
In a sentence about internal hesitation or conflicting desires, 想 sounds more natural because it expresses wishes rather than strong intentions.

So 想 fits better to show “on one hand I want to… on the other hand I also want to… (and I’m torn between them).”

What is the difference between 休息 (xiūxi) and 睡觉 (shuìjiào)?

休息 = “to rest, to take a break”.
- Can include sitting, lying down, relaxing, not working, maybe napping.
- It does not necessarily mean sleeping.
睡觉 = “to sleep”.
- Specifically refers to sleeping.

So:

在家休息 = “rest at home” (maybe watch TV, lie on the sofa, scroll your phone, take a nap, etc.)
在家睡觉 = “sleep at home”.

In your sentence, 休息 is broader and more natural: it doesn’t say you must sleep; just that you want to relax and take it easy at home.

Why do we say 跟朋友去公园散步 instead of just 去公园散步 or 在公园散步?

Each version emphasizes something slightly different:

跟朋友去公园散步
- 跟朋友: “with friends”
- 去公园: “go to the park”
- 散步: “take a walk”
- This highlights:
  - the company (with friends),
  - the movement to the park,
  - the activity (walking).
去公园散步
- “go to the park to take a walk”.
- No mention of friends; could be alone.
在公园散步
- “take a walk in the park”.
- Focus on where the walking takes place.
- Doesn’t mention going there; it describes the walking itself.

Your sentence specifically contrasts:

staying at home to rest
going out with friends to walk in the park

So 跟朋友去公园散步 expresses the full idea: with friends + go to park + walk.
You could shorten it to 去公园散步, but you would lose the “with friends” part.

Why is 跟朋友 placed before 去公园散步? Could I change the order?

The original order:

一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。

Here 跟朋友 (with friends) directly modifies the whole action 去公园散步 (“go to the park for a walk”), and this is the most natural word order:

跟 + person + Verb + place + action

Alternative orders and their feel:

想去公园跟朋友散步
- Also possible and grammatical.
- Now it feels like:
  - main plan: go to the park
  - and there, walk with friends.
- Slight shift in emphasis, but in everyday conversation, both are fine.
想去跟朋友在公园散步
- Grammatical, but heavier and less natural in casual speech.

In practice, 跟朋友去公园散步 is standard and smooth; it groups “with friends” closely with the whole “go-to-park-and-walk” event.

Does 朋友 (péngyou) here mean “a friend” or “friends”? How do I make it clearly singular or plural?

Chinese nouns usually don’t mark singular/plural the way English does.

朋友 by itself can mean:

“a friend”
“my friend(s)”
“friends” (in general)

In this sentence:

跟朋友去公园散步

contextually it’s understood as “with (some) friends”; English tends to pluralize this, but Chinese doesn’t need to.

If you want to be more specific:

一个朋友 – one friend
几个朋友 – a few friends
我的朋友 – my friend(s); could still be one or more
我的一些朋友 – some of my friends
我的朋友们 – clearly plural, often “my friends” as a group

But in casual speech, just 跟朋友 is very natural even if you mean more than one friend.

How is tense expressed in this sentence? Could it also mean “I wanted to…” instead of “I want to…”?

Chinese verbs do not change form for tense (no -ed, -s, etc.). Tense is expressed through:

time words (昨天, 明天, 现在, etc.),
context,
and sometimes aspect particles (了, 过, 着).

Your sentence:

一方面我想在家休息，一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。

Without time words, it most naturally refers to now or a generally applicable situation:
- “On the one hand I want to rest at home, on the other hand I also want to go to the park with my friends for a walk.”

To make it clearly past, you can add a time word:

昨天一方面我想在家休息，一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。
“Yesterday, on the one hand I wanted to rest at home, on the other hand I also wanted to go to the park with my friends for a walk.”

You don’t usually add 了 to 想 in this kind of “want” sentence to mark past; a time expression is enough. So yes, with the right context, it can be understood as “wanted to” or “was torn between wanting X and wanting Y.”

Could I use a word like 但是 or 可是 in this sentence? How is it different from using 一方面……一方面……?

但是 / 可是 mean “but / however” and are used to contrast two clauses:

我想在家休息，但是又想跟朋友去公园散步。
- “I want to rest at home, but I also want to go to the park with my friends for a walk.”

This version is fine and natural.

Difference in feel:

一方面……一方面……:
- Explicitly presents two sides of the same situation.
- Feels like you’re laying out two competing tendencies.
- Very common for describing internal conflict.
但是 / 可是:
- More general contrast connector.
- Doesn’t explicitly highlight “side A” vs “side B”.

So your original sentence emphasizes the idea of “on one hand … on the other hand …” more strongly than one with 但是 / 可是, even though the basic meaning is similar.

Is this sentence more spoken or written? Is it formal or informal?

一方面我想在家休息，一方面又想跟朋友去公园散步。

This is very natural in spoken Mandarin and also perfectly acceptable in informal writing (messages, diaries, casual essays).

Register: neutral to slightly informal.
Vocabulary: all basic, everyday words.
Structure 一方面……一方面……: common in both speech and writing, though in very formal writing you might see 一方面……另一方面…… a bit more often.

So you can safely use this sentence when talking to friends or in casual writing; it won’t sound childish, just natural.