"他在中国住过，能说流利的中文。"

Translation: He has lived in China, he can speak fluent Chinese.

[LeChatParle]

A quick lesson on 的，得，and 地. Many learners get confused on when to use them.

Use 得 when the adverb comes after the verb, use 地 when the adverb comes before the verb, and use 的 when describing nouns.

So this sentence could have also been written the following two ways while meaning the same thing:

1. 他在中国住过，能说中文说得流利

2. 他在中国住过，能流利地说中文

[ClassiDuo]

1. is an adverbial construction ("can fluently speak" i.e. modifies "speak").

The sentence here, "能说流利的中文," is an adjectival construction ("can speak fluent Chinese" i.e. modifies "Chinese")

As for 1., it is a resultative complement construction, and is not so easy to render directly into English. But it is used in lots of very common Chinese phrases e.g. "聽得懂 / 聽不懂" (can/cannot understand--literally "listen, the result being understanding" / "listen, the result being not understanding"); "對得起 / 對不起" (can/cannot face something--more commonly heard in the negative, meaning "sorry")

[NasuSamaruk0]

"He lived in China. He can speak Chinese fluently." - marked as incorrect, though correct meaning.

[Keith_APP]

It should be accepted, as there is no difference in meaning, although it is closer to 他能流利地说中文.

[Gabrielle145359]

Why does this sentence use 能? I thought it should be 会. Is it correct to use 会？

[Keith_APP]

能 can also be used here as much as 会 and the meaning does not hence change. 能 is usually related to abilities that one is borne with or mainly physiological, as well as abilities quantified with a standard. This s where both words overlap but there are cases that you can only use one of them.

Note grammatically 能 cannot be followed directly by a noun (or eqv.) So 我会中文 is right but 我能中文 is wrong.

[RobinThor]

The listening exercise should accept 她在中国住过能说流利的中文
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/29456371

[Sinologue]

He has lived in China, he can speak very fluent Chinese.

this was considered wrong, what do you think?

[Ant.H]

"He speaks fluent Chinese" has the same meaning in this context as "He can speak fluent Chinese" and should also be accepted.

[Elijah.Fung]

He has lived in china, can fluently speak Chinese, 这样也行吧

[olf_ostemporale]

Is 他住过在中国 grammatically correct? If it is, which one is more natural?

[2snPXwPR]

Fluently is used to emphasize the verb speak. What is a fluent chinese?

[Gabrielle145359]

You can think of fluent Chinese as the opposite of broken Chinese.

[LaBiciEsMia]

"He has lived in China and is fluent in Chinese"