"We swim for half an hour every day."
Translation:我们每天游半个小时的泳。
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When you want to say that an action took a certain amount of time, the time goes after the verb. In this case, the time refers to a duration and not a point in time.
Tomorrow afternoon I would like to swim. (Point in time)
明天下午我想游泳 - Ok
我明天下午想游泳 - Ok
I would like to swim for half an hour. (Duration)
半个小时我想游泳 - wrong
我半个小时想游泳 - wrong
我想游泳半个小时 - wrong
我想游 - 半个小时 - 的泳 - Ok (Separate Verb)
我想游泳 - 游 - 半个小时 - Ok (Repeat Verb)
The time should come directly after the verb aspect. When the verb is a "verb+object" or "separable verb", you can duplicate the verb aspect again before the time or separate the "verb+object" and put the object after the time. This will be the same with 打篮球 and 踢足球 , 打 and 踢 are verbs.
Duolingo is correct. 游泳 is a separable verb. This is a complicated subject. It's best to refer to Chinese Grammar Wiki at https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Separable_verb or other sources.
Thanks for the link, but note how it starts. (I paraphrase for brevity, clarity, and emphasis.)
Level: B1
, far beyond Duolingo's 15 levels.
Separable verbs (离合词, líhécí) get their name from their ability to "separate" into two parts, verb + object, with other words in between. In fact, you could also simply call separable verbs "verb-object phrases."
Now, I recall Duolingo introducing them as verb+noun, but what we have here is an "object" that we English speakers tend to categorize as "verbs," ignoring gerunds and other nouning verbs
techniques.
Last week, I downloaded Hanping, which glosses 泳 both ways, noun first:
- swimming
- to swim
P.S. English inherited its separable verbs from German trennbare Verben.
Duolingo is only considering this structure correct:
Subject + time + verb in the action + time (duration) + object in the action
我们每天游半个小时的泳。
Let's call this structure 1. But there is other structure that is correct as well and it was considered wrong for me, which I think it should not happen.
Subject + time + action + verb in the action + time (duration)
我们每天游泳游半个小时。
In this structure (2) if a 离合词 (separable word) is being used, the verb must be repeated, otherwise it is considered a grammar mistake. I already saw a question (sentence provided in Mandarin to be translated to Mandain) where the verb is not repeated, which is a mistake.
Note: subject and time can swap positions. Time is option depending on what the speaker wants to express. This applies bor both structures.
What do I mean with action, verb in the action and object in the action? These are all references for 离合词 (separable words)
E.g.: Action: 游泳,跑步,踢足球 Verb in the action: 游,跑,足 Object in the action: 泳,步,足球
I think that duolingo should introduce both structures and name both like structure 1 and 2. Then point out wich one the user should use, so no one relies just on one of these structures, because both are commonly used.
This is just a suggestion and I hope it helps all the users to be more clear about this grammar.
I had always assumed that the grammatical rule was "[动][时间]的[名]", that is to say that you could only split verbs composed of a first character which is itself a verb, and the rest which is a noun.
Ex:
- 我看了两个小时的书
- 他上了一天的班
- 我拉了一个晚上的肚子 (this one was an excuse I heard a native give to our teacher for being late in class :-p)
Here, 泳 is itself a verb, but not a noun, so this sounds unnatural to me. However as I've never been actually taught this grammatical rule I'm concerned that I might actually be wrong?
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In modern standard mandarin, 泳 is always regarded as a noun.
It is not so in classical Chinese.
That is the verb 遊 yoú, meaning "to swim". It is the first part of the separable verb 遊泳 also meaning "to swim". The second part 泳 comes after the duration 半个小时的 describing the first part.
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Separable_verb