"I would like to buy fruit at the supermarket."
Translation:我想在超市买水果。
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Maybe it should say "I want to go to the supermarket and buy some fruit" otherwise it's too vague . (I was given the English and asked for the Chinese) the given sentence is "I would like to buy fruit at the supermarket." doesn't say that I'm there or not there just that that is where I want to buy fruit.!!???
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I would have translated the first sentence as 我想去超市买水果。 Is the meaning different in some way?
504
Any way, are both expressions gramatically correct? Moreover as you imply, the latter looks more consistent with the question sentence.
The position (at the supermarket) should come before the action (buy fruit).
“我想买水果在超市” Wrong on 11/25/21. Native speaker sitting next to me says it is correct. Reported
I've seen several instances when Duolingo used both characters in one sentence. I had the impression that, when combined together, they would mean "would like", but I don't know if I made the right assumption. I'm still confused as to how you would show inflections of a verb in Mandarin Chinese, like how do we know that 想 means "would like" or when it just means "like"?
想, 要 and 想要 can all mean ‘want’ in some sense, but 想 xiang is the least forceful of the three. In many cases, it might be better to think of 想 as being more like ‘would like to’ rather than ‘want’. When used for expressing wants, 想 can only be followed by a verb or verb phrase. In other words, 想 only means ‘want’ when it's an auxiliary verb. Another feature of 想 is that it can be paired with 很 or 好 to mean ‘really would like to’ or ‘really want to’.
要 is more direct in meaning that you "want" something, but isn't necessarily impolite.
The verb 想要 is the trickiest of the three, because it has a broad range of intensity. It can range from expressing a simple want or request, to a strong desire for something, or in slang to sexual desire (if you '想要 someone', it's usually sexual).
The best thing, is to learn from reading and watching them in use...
That is the real answer, though. The grammar in your sentence is wrong. 在超市 must go before the verb. Place prepositional phrases with 在... must go before the verb they modify in almost all cases. There are a few verbs that are exceptions to this. 住 and 坐 are the only exceptions that I know, but there are probably a few more.