"I always go swimming on Saturdays."

Translation:我总是在星期六去游泳。

April 1, 2018

22 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gabrielle145359

Is this OK: 我星期六总是去游泳?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/KX3.
  • 154

It is OK colloquially but the given one is more idiomatic and accurate.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LaurentFin2

I dont understand why you would need 是 in this sentence, even less than in the one given as correct


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gabrielle145359

It's not really "是" but "总是". "总是" means "always".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/elmanisero777

i thought you needed to add a 都 there to show its all the Saturday's. so: 我星期六都总是去游泳


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gabrielle145359

总是 means always.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MaynardHogg

Not without 毎, it seems.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Aleksandro_RU

April 2021, still not accepted, as tons of other similar cases. Have the administrators died already? Where are they buried?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/demitau

Why it is possible to use zai with time? I thought it is only for locations.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/heyytonytony

Think of it as 'on' or 'at'. Colloquially I usually omit it when talking about time, though. 咱們約今晚(在)七點在餐館吃飯吧。 Let's plan to eat at the restaurant at 7pm tonight.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/marcella-rose

why does 在星期六 go after 总是 here? usually the time is at the front of the sentence.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/KX3.
  • 154

It is more idiomatic. And general rules always have exceptions, but it is always better to go off what you read, since what you hear may be colloquial but not (the most) accurate.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/R7fi9dwS

I read hose comments, but still don't understand why it needs zai before time.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/RobinThor

I think it must be some some sort construction: when you want to say that you always do something at a certain time, use "subject + 总是在 + time + rest of the sentence". However, this is pure speculation based on the sentences in this lesson.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/BZH1423

It doesn't necessarily need it, but 在 can be and sometimes is used before a time. It doesn't necessarily change the meaning of the sentence in any way, but on occasion is makes things more clear.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/onnoeberhard

I'm not 100% on the semantics of this sentence. Does this mean "I go swimming on every Saturday" or "Whenever I go swimming it is a Saturday"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gabrielle145359

"I go swimming on every Saturday."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SloaneHilt

More like "Whenever I go swimming, it is always on Saturday."

The English translation could be interpreted either way of course but to say "I swim every Saturday" would be different in Mandarin.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Stephen241623

Much of the discussion below is evidently caused by the fact that the English does not distinguish between “if it is Saturday, then I go swimming”, “if I go swimming, then it is Saturday” and “I go swimming if and only if it is Saturday”. The English seems most likely to mean the first, however, while I'm guessing the Chinese is less ambiguous and most likely to mean the second (helping explain the 在)?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/juanluisme845441

我总是没星期六去游泳 why not accepted?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Gabrielle145359

I guess you meant 每 not 没. And, I can't say whether it's technically wrong, but I don't think I've ever seen 总是 and 每 used together.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/KisoDannete

This is wrong. The chinese sentence, if translated to english, would become: I just always go swimming on Saturdays. The english sentence, if translated to chinese, would become: 我永遠在星期六去游泳。

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