Hi everyone,
I am currently working on this lesson 12 which seems to bring new grammar notions
我 喜欢 在 家 里 休息 - wo xi huan zai jia li xiuxi - I like to relax indoors with my family
我 喜欢 和 朋友 出去 - wo xi huan he pengyou chu qu - I like to go out with my friends
It starts to see some grammar order rules with these 2 sentences but I am not really sure yet. Can someone explain to me what I can take out of these ?
Thank you !!
So the main part for both is 我喜欢 (I like…), then we get more information. A good rule of thumb for word order is subject-verb-object, but that doesn’t give us enough help past a certain point. The two sentences you mention are actually a bit different for word order, or can be.
In Chinese, time and location will usually come closer to the beginning, if not actually at the beginning.
Time, Place, the rest of it (the subjects of sentences can move around a bit, so maybe you say Time, Subject, Place…or Subject, Time, Place… it really depends on what emphasis you want, or simply just personal preference)
I mention this because the first sentence could also be written or said:
我在家里喜欢休息。 wo3 zai4 jia1 li3 xi3 huan1 xiu1 xi5. I in home like to rest.
When you get sentences that don’t have two verbs “like…to rest” the difference between English and Chinese is much clearer, like if someone says:
I cook in the kitchen.
我在厨房里做饭。 wo3 zai4 chu2 fang2 li3 zuo4 fan4. I in the kitchen cook food.
With your examples basically the emphasis is placed on “I like” and then the rest of the sentence is telling us what you like, but adhering to the grammar of Chinese. In the first one it’s necessary to say the place you like to rest in or at before you say “rest”. And in the second, it’s necessary to say who you’re going out with before saying go out.
Though, to be clear, it’s mainly because of the whole “I like…” at the beginning and the verbs used in addition. “Rest" and “go out” don’t need any object with them, not like a word “eat” or “do”.
If I said：
我喜欢和我朋友吃饭。 wo3 xi3 huan1 he2 wo3 peng2 you3 chi1 fan4. I like with my friend to eat food.
then it’s easier to see how the standard word order holds up wen you add more to the sentence.
Hope that helps. Sorry for the length.
Thank you very much !
Sorry for my very late response!