wǎnshang wǒ hé māma zuò zài shāfa shàng kàn diànshì.

In Mandarin, time words often come before the main action.

So the basic order is often:

Time + subject + verb phrase

Here:

晚上 + 我 + 和妈妈 + 坐在沙发上看电视

That is very natural in Chinese. It sets the time first, like In the evening, I and my mom sit on the sofa and watch TV.

You could also say the time later in some contexts, but putting it near the beginning is one of the most common patterns.

Mandarin often uses noun phrases joined by 和 instead of replacing them with we.

So 我和妈妈 simply means my mom and I.

Chinese does have 我们, meaning we, but that would only work if the listener already knows who is included. If you specifically want to say my mom and I, then 我和妈妈 is clearer.

Also, in more polite usage, Chinese often puts the other person before oneself, so 妈妈和我 is often considered more polite than 我和妈妈. Both are understandable, but many teachers prefer 妈妈和我 in formal examples.

Here 和 means and. It connects two nouns:

我和妈妈 = my mom and I

A very important point: in this sentence, 和 is joining people, not verbs.

So it connects:

• 我
• 妈妈

It does not connect:

• 坐
• 看

Those two verbs appear together for a different reason.

This is a very common Chinese pattern.

• 在 introduces a location: at / in / on
• 上 is a location noun meaning something like on top of / on

So:

在沙发上 = on the sofa

And:

坐在沙发上 = sit on the sofa

You can think of the structure like this:

verb + 在 + place + location ending

Examples:

• 站在门口 = stand at the doorway
• 放在桌子上 = put it on the table
• 睡在床上 = sleep on the bed

So 在 and 上 are doing different jobs, and both are needed in very natural Mandarin.

Because Chinese often uses 上 with furniture and surfaces.

So these are very normal:

• 在椅子上 = on the chair
• 在床上 = on the bed
• 在沙发上 = on the sofa
• 在桌子上 = on the table

Even when English sometimes says in or just leaves the preposition less noticeable, Chinese often uses 上 to show the idea of being on a surface.

So 沙发上 is completely natural.

This is a very common Mandarin pattern. Chinese often places verbs one after another when one action happens while doing another action, or when one action sets the scene for the next.

Here:

坐在沙发上看电视

means something like:

• sit on the sofa and watch TV
• be sitting on the sofa watching TV

The first verb phrase, 坐在沙发上, describes the position or state.
The second verb, 看, gives the main activity.

This kind of serial verb structure is very common in Mandarin.

Other examples:

• 站着说话 = speak while standing
• 回家吃饭 = go home to eat
• 去商店买东西 = go to the store to buy things

So Chinese does not always need an extra connector between verbs.

Usually it means sit on the sofa and watch TV, with the focus on the state of being seated.

The verb 坐 can sometimes mean sit down, but in sentences like this it often describes the position of the subject during the action of watching TV.

If you specifically wanted to emphasize sit down, Chinese often uses:

• 坐下 = sit down

So:

• 坐在沙发上看电视 = sit on the sofa watching TV
• 坐下来看电视 = sit down and watch TV

That is the difference in emphasis.

Chinese often leaves that idea implicit.

If the subject is 我和妈妈, and the sentence says both of them are sitting on the sofa watching TV, then the idea of together is already understood from the context.

If you want to stress it, you can add:

• 一起 = together

For example:

晚上我和妈妈一起坐在沙发上看电视。

But without 一起, the original sentence is still completely natural.

Mandarin does not use articles like a, an, and the the way English does.

So:

• 看电视 = watch TV
• 看书 = read a book / read books
• 看电影 = watch a movie / watch movies

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, 看电视 is a very common set phrase meaning watch TV.

晚上 can cover both evening and night, depending on context.

In many beginner sentences, it is translated as:

• in the evening
• at night

Both are often acceptable.

If you want to be more specific:

• 傍晚 = dusk / early evening
• 夜里 or 夜晚 = nighttime / late night

But 晚上 is the normal everyday word people use in many situations.

妈妈 is a very common family word in Mandarin. Its usual pronunciation is:

māma

That means:

• first syllable: first tone
• second syllable: usually neutral tone

So it is not normally pronounced as two full first tones in natural speech.

This neutral-tone pattern is very common in kinship terms and everyday words, for example:

• 妈妈 = māma
• 爸爸 = bàba
• 哥哥 = gēge
• 姐姐 = jiějie

So when reading the sentence aloud, the second syllable of 妈妈 should be lighter and shorter.

Usually, for a simple time expression like this, you just say 晚上 without 在.

So:

• 晚上我和妈妈坐在沙发上看电视。 = natural

Using 在 before a time word is sometimes possible in certain structures, but for basic sentence patterns, learners should usually remember:

Time words normally appear directly, without a preposition

Examples:

• 今天我很忙。
• 明天他去学校。
• 晚上我们看电影。

So here, 晚上 by itself is the normal choice.

No. Standard written Chinese normally does not put spaces between words.

So the sentence is normally written as:

晚上我和妈妈坐在沙发上看电视。

Learner materials often add spaces to help you see the word boundaries:

晚上 / 我 / 和 / 妈妈 / 坐 / 在 / 沙发 / 上 / 看 / 电视

That is only for learning. In real Chinese writing, you usually will not see those spaces.