In English, play soccer has both a verb and an object, while other verbs, like swim and run, usually don’t have objects. A lot of actions that are a single verb in English require both a verb and an object in Chinese!
| I like to swim. Literal: I like to swim a swim. |
我喜欢游泳。 Wǒ xǐhuān yóuyǒng. |
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| She likes to run. Literal: She likes to run a step. |
她喜欢跑步。 Tā xǐhuān pǎobù. |
| They don’t like to dance. Literal: They don’t like to dance a dance. |
他们不喜欢跳舞。 Tāmen bù xǐhuān tiàowǔ. |
To talk about how long you did an action or activity, first say the verb and then the amount of time.
每个星期我工作四十个小时。
Měi ge xīngqí wǒ gōngzuò sìshí gè xiǎoshí.
Every week, I work for 40 hours.
If the verb has an object (like 踢足球 or 跳舞) add 的 plus the object after the amount of time.
每星期五我踢两个小时的足球。
Měi xīngqíwǔ wǒ tī liǎng ge xiǎoshí de zúqiú.
Every Friday, I play soccer for two hours.
To show that the action happened in the past, you can put 了 after the verb.
早上我跑了三十分钟的步。
Zǎoshang wǒ pǎo le sānshí fēnzhōng de bù.
This morning, I ran for thirty minutes.
今天他游了一个小时的泳。
Jīntiān tā yóu le yígè xiǎoshí de yǒng.
Today, he swam for one hour.