You’ve seen 还是 when offering someone two options, like in 你想吃鱼还是吃肉？. But when you’re stating two possibilities, like I will go dancing or watch a movie, you use 或者 (huòzhě, or).
今天晚上我会去跳舞或者看电影。
Jīntiān wǎnshàng wǒ huì qù tiàowǔ huòzhě kàn diànyǐng.
Tonight I will go dancing or watch a movie.
我们会去法国或者意大利。
Wǒmen huì qù fàguó huòzhě yìdàlì.
We will go to France or Italy.
星期天她们一般去跑步或者爬山。
Xīngqítiān tāmen yībān qù pǎobù huòzhě páshān.
They usually go running or hiking on Sundays.
To say that you are interested in something, do the following: first, put 对 (duì, in) before the thing you are interested in, then add 感兴趣 (gǎn xìngqù, be interested).
我们都对语言感兴趣。
Wǒmen dōu duì yǔyán gǎn xìngqù.
We are all interested in languages.
我对历史不感兴趣。
Wǒ duì lìshǐ bù gǎn xìngqù.
I am not interested in history.
You could also phrase it as have interest in, or 有兴趣 (yǒu xìngqù, have interest)!
我们都对语言有兴趣。
Wǒmen dōu duì yǔyán yǒu xìngqù.
We all have interest in languages.
她对他没有兴趣。
Tā duì tā méiyǒu xìngqù.
She has no interest in him.
You may have noticed that some characters can have different sounds depending on the word they’re in. Let’s look at a couple examples:
| 了 | 了 le completed action; a change of situation; add emphasis 了解 liáojiě understand |