Previous Counseling

Dear Crystal, maybe you can help me with a few questions. Regarding "Newbie - What time is it? Expansion". Why would you need the 在 in 你现在在上班吗? Wouldn't 现在 already express "now"? In 他昨天是几点来的？, why do we need the 是 and the 的? Can you also just say 他昨天几点来？Where is the difference between 的 and 得? Thank you. Best regards, Stephan.

hi, "你现在在上班吗" here 在 is not in , actually, it should be 正在， we put 正在 before the verb to mean be doing something now, and you can omit 正， so 我正在吃饭or 我在吃饭 both can mean " i am eating." as we know, chinese doesnt have tense, so here “ 你现在上班吗？” still makes sense because of 现在。

and "是。。。。的“ it's optional.

 people use this pattern to emphasize "when", "where","who", "how" and so on. for example,你是什么时候来的？ 我是三点来的。

你是怎么去公司的？ 我是开车去公司的。

是谁告诉你的？是小王告诉我的。

A brief question regarding newbie "How long?". The expansion section contains two, from my perspective very similar sentences. First: 他说话很快。Second: 他跑得不快. Whereas the first sentence seems to work without 得, the second sentence contains the 得. Where is the difference that requires the second sentence to contain the 得? Thanks.

hi, when the verb has  two syllables, you can omit 得， but if only one like 跑，you have to use 得。