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- "I would like to buy fruit at…
"I would like to buy fruit at the supermarket."
Translation:我想在超市买水果。
31 Comments
The meaning is slightly different.
我想在超市买水果 means you "want to go to the supermarket" and the reason is that you want to buy fruit.
"我在超市想买水果“ implies that you are already at the supermarket and would like 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?
Now I'm more confused. There are two completely different versions of translations for 我想在超市买水果。that were explained: “I would like to buy fruit at the supermarket" (Duolingo), and "I want to go to the supermarket to buy fruit" (your version)
Many people ask why not 我想买水果在超市 Well, i'm not the native speaker, and I made the same mistake, but as I know In the Chinese sentence time and place (here: 在超市) must go BEFORE the verb (here: 买)
Several people have asked why "我想买水果在超市" is marked wrong. I have the same question... could a native speaker comment on this??
The position (at the supermarket) should come before the action (buy fruit).
But not always, right? When there is also a time in the sentence, that comes before the action, and then the location can come after? Or what is the rule in this respect?
Hello there! both 想 and 要 mean "like" or "want" and by putting both of them together it becomes redundant. I hope this helps
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"?
我想买水果在超市 As many have printed out, should be PERFECTLY FINE. There is no good explanation why not. "The adverb is last" someone wrote - that is not clear, and explains nothing.
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.
Not exactly… 到 means "arrive", it's a different meaning than 在. Although you may want to arrive at the supermarket before buying the fruit there, the sentence is more specific and describe where you want to buy the fruit, not where do you want to go (in order to buy fruit).
