<blockquote>
<p>我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For this sentence, the 在个 is quite odd.  I'm not sure if you can definitively declare this a grammar error (because 个 is often used to mean 一个 when the quantity is 1, such as 吃个苹果), but it's at least close to one.  If you delete the 个 from this sentence, I believe it's okay.</p>
<p>Normally when we want to express &quot;we're in a city-center restaurant eating lunch&quot;, we'd write something like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>我们正在市中心里的饭店吃中饭。<br />
We are in a city-center restaurant eating lunch.</p>
<p>昨天中午，我们在市中心里的饭店吃中饭。<br />
Yesterday midday, we ate lunch in a restaurant in the city center.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(I note there's some flexibility as to where to put the 的 and the 里, and you don't even have to include them at all.)</p>
<p>When the quantity is unambiguously 1, and the measure word is irrelevant, you don't need to use measure words and quantities.  (You've probably already encountered 我是学生 instead of 我是一个学生.)  In this situation, you wouldn't normally be in two restaurants at the same time.  Generally in cases where 一个 can be omitted, it's considered good writing to omit it.</p>
<p>It's not clear why you're using the 是……的 construction here, which is usually used to emphasize details:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Subj. + 是 + [Information to be Emphasized] + Verb + 的<br />
<sub><a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The &quot;shi... de&quot; construction for emphasizing details</a></sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>By using 是……的, it sounds like you're trying to communicate the fact that the restaurant is in the city center, as opposed to a non-city-center restaurant.</p>
<p>It could come up in this kind of dialogue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A: 你们在附近的麦当劳吃中饭吗？<br />
A: Are you eating lunch at the nearby McDonald's?</p>
<p>B: 不，我们是在市中心里的饭店吃中饭的。<br />
B: No, we're eating lunch in a restaurant in the city center.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>where A understands 我们 is at a restaurant eating 中饭 = &quot;lunch&quot;, but didn't grasp some details correctly.</p>
<p>Alternatively, it could instead emphasize that they ate in the restaurant, as opposed to e.g. working there.  So maybe the context here might be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A: 你们每天去市中心里的饭店。你们在哪里工作吗？<br />
A: You go to the city-center restaurant every day.  Do you work there?</p>
<p>B: 不，我们是在市中心里的饭店吃中饭的。<br />
B: No, we eat lunch in the restaurant in the city center.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T23:59:38.387Z
2024-10-02T23:59:38.387Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>What exactly would you like to express in English?</p>
<p>Maybe:</p>
<p>We are having lunch in a restaurant in the town centre.<br />
我们是在市中心的一家饭店吃中饭的</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-03T12:35:21.620Z
hmmm i originally wrote "我们去了一家¹市中心的饭店", but since i was trying to practice more grammar, i tried to use a hsk1' structure (the 是。。。的) that, when we practiced at class, is (?) used for emphasizing time, manner or place, therefore, i changed the phrase to emphasize the place where it happen... but i was unsure if it was correct and apparently it wasn't :(
humbledtt
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-03T03:45:33.377Z
2024-10-03T16:28:25.513Z
2024-10-03T16:28:25.513Z
Pedroski
<p>我们的中饭是在市中心的一家饭店吃的。
我们是在市中心的一家饭店吃的中饭。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-03T09:01:00.710Z
2024-10-03T09:25:30.460Z
2024-10-03T09:25:30.460Z
iw17
<p>i wrote a text to practice vocabulary and grammar, but since i don't have anyone to check it for me i used ChatGPT to see what i got wrong.</p>
<p>it pointed that the phrase &quot;我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的&quot; is wrong because the use of &quot;是&quot; is not appropriate in this case. i don't know if is an ai mistake (because i was trying to use the structure &quot;是。。。的&quot; for emphasis) or if is truly wrong (since the ai explanation is not very good).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T16:38:40.347Z
1. "在个" makes no sense. ususally you say "在一个". 2. "...的" usually mean "...的人"/"...的东西"/... as abbreviation. 3. "市中心饭店" should be "市中心的饭店".
ZhenRanZR
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T16:41:49.137Z
a sentence that makes sence should be "我们是在一个市中心的饭店吃中饭的（人）", which only makes sense in rare occasions. for example, consider you are in a travelling group who parted for dining at different spots, and you identify yourself as the one dining downtown unlike the others dining in the suburb.
ZhenRanZR
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T16:43:25.613Z
if you want to say "we ate lunch in the city center", you should then say "我们是在市中心的饭店吃的中饭"
ZhenRanZR
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T20:11:57.853Z
@ZhenRanZR Your last answer is quite good, however, I suggest revising your sentence to 1)  "我们是在市中心的**一个**饭店吃的中饭" (more formal), or 2)  "我们是在市中心吃的中饭" (more assertive).
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-02T22:59:46.923Z
(By the way, but there's a difference between 中饭 = "lunch" [often 午饭 instead] and 中餐 = "Chinese food".)
Becky 李蓓
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-03T01:44:46.133Z
It usually goes like "中/午饭", "午餐", or "中午饭", all mean "lunch".
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-04T04:54:01.500Z
If you want to express you had lunch in a restaurant downtown, you should say 我们在市中心的一家饭馆吃的午饭.
KaiserKatze
<grammar>
is the phrase "我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的" wrong?
# is the phrase "我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的" wrong?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-10-02)

i wrote a text to practice vocabulary and grammar, but since i don't have anyone to check it for me i used ChatGPT to see what i got wrong.

it pointed that the phrase "我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的" is wrong because the use of "是" is not appropriate in this case. i don't know if is an ai mistake (because i was trying to use the structure "是。。。的" for emphasis) or if is truly wrong (since the ai explanation is not very good).

**Tags:** grammar
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 1. "在个" makes no sense. ususally you say "在一个". 2. "...的" usually mean "...的人"/"...的东西"/... as abbreviation. 3. "市中心饭店" should be "市中心的饭店".  
> **username_1**: a sentence that makes sence should be "我们是在一个市中心的饭店吃中饭的（人）", which only makes sense in rare occasions. for example, consider you are in a travelling group who parted for dining at different spots, and you identify yourself as the one dining downtown unlike the others dining in the suburb.  
> **username_1**: if you want to say "we ate lunch in the city center", you should then say "我们是在市中心的饭店吃的中饭"  
> **username_2**: @ZhenRanZR Your last answer is quite good, however, I suggest revising your sentence to 1)  "我们是在市中心的**一个**饭店吃的中饭" (more formal), or 2)  "我们是在市中心吃的中饭" (more assertive).  
> **username_3**: (By the way, but there's a difference between 中饭 = "lunch" [often 午饭 instead] and 中餐 = "Chinese food".)  
> **username_2**: It usually goes like "中/午饭", "午餐", or "中午饭", all mean "lunch".  
> **username_4**: If you want to express you had lunch in a restaurant downtown, you should say 我们在市中心的一家饭馆吃的午饭.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-10-02. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

> 我们是在个市中心饭店吃中饭的。

For this sentence, the 在个 is quite odd. I'm not sure if you can definitively declare this a grammar error (because 个 is often used to mean 一个 when the quantity is 1, such as 吃个苹果), but it's at least close to one. If you delete the 个 from this sentence, I believe it's okay.

Normally when we want to express "we're in a city-center restaurant eating lunch", we'd write something like:

> 我们正在市中心里的饭店吃中饭。  
> We are in a city-center restaurant eating lunch.
>
> 昨天中午，我们在市中心里的饭店吃中饭。  
> Yesterday midday, we ate lunch in a restaurant in the city center.

(I note there's some flexibility as to where to put the 的 and the 里, and you don't even have to include them at all.)

When the quantity is unambiguously 1, and the measure word is irrelevant, you don't need to use measure words and quantities. (You've probably already encountered 我是学生 instead of 我是一个学生.) In this situation, you wouldn't normally be in two restaurants at the same time. Generally in cases where 一个 can be omitted, it's considered good writing to omit it.

It's not clear why you're using the 是……的 construction here, which is usually used to emphasize details:

> Subj. + 是 + [Information to be Emphasized] + Verb + 的  
> [The "shi... de" construction for emphasizing details](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details)

By using 是……的, it sounds like you're trying to communicate the fact that the restaurant is in the city center, as opposed to a non-city-center restaurant.

It could come up in this kind of dialogue:

> A: 你们在附近的麦当劳吃中饭吗？  
> A: Are you eating lunch at the nearby McDonald's?
>
> B: 不，我们是在市中心里的饭店吃中饭的。  
> B: No, we're eating lunch in a restaurant in the city center.

where A understands 我们 is at a restaurant eating 中饭 = "lunch", but didn't grasp some details correctly.

Alternatively, it could instead emphasize that they ate in the restaurant, as opposed to e.g. working there. So maybe the context here might be:

> A: 你们每天去市中心里的饭店。你们在哪里工作吗？  
> A: You go to the city-center restaurant every day. Do you work there?
>
> B: 不，我们是在市中心里的饭店吃中饭的。  
> B: No, we eat lunch in the restaurant in the city center.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-10-03. Score: 0

What exactly would you like to express in English?

Maybe:

We are having lunch in a restaurant in the town centre.  
我们是在市中心的一家饭店吃中饭的

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: hmmm i originally wrote "我们去了一家¹市中心的饭店", but since i was trying to practice more grammar, i tried to use a hsk1' structure (the 是。。。的) that, when we practiced at class, is (?) used for emphasizing time, manner or place, therefore, i changed the phrase to emphasize the place where it happen... but i was unsure if it was correct and apparently it wasn't :(  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2024-10-03. Score: 0

我们的中饭是在市中心的一家饭店吃的。
我们是在市中心的一家饭店吃的中饭。


---

