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往前 means "to move forward" and 走 means "to walk", "to go". Also, the former and latter characters have their own meanings related to a movement of "go".

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  • 往前 is not a verb when you have verb 走, so this is not repetitive. A lot of Chinese words have different usage. It has to be decided in the sentence.
    – sylvia
    Dec 14, 2019 at 4:46

2 Answers 2

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There isn't a repetitive meaning in 往前走.

往: towards; in the direction of;

前: forward; ahead;

走: go; walk;

往前走: walk in the direction of 'ahead'

It might not be grammatical English, just to explain Chinese.

往 can be a preposition to mean towards and, as a verb, to go. In 往前走, it's used as a preposition.

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  • Thank you. I'm using the Yellow Bridge dictionary. It defines 往 as both "towards" and "to go". Also, the word "往前" by itself is defined as "to move forwards"
    – BIG-95
    Dec 8, 2019 at 23:32
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    @BIG-95 Yes, 往前 itself could mean 'move forward' in some context, but with other verbs implied. It could be 往前(走), 往前(开),etc.
    – dan
    Dec 8, 2019 at 23:49
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    @BIG-95 when 往 is used as a verb , it can mean 'to go'. E.g. 往来 (come and go). But in 往前走,it's used as a prep to mean 'towards'.
    – dan
    Dec 8, 2019 at 23:53
  • I got it! Thank you very much! On the dictionary, it tells that can be both verb and preposition!! I'll search more about these syntax point later!
    – BIG-95
    Dec 9, 2019 at 0:31
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This example should warn us not to convert / translate too directly when dealing with languages.

As explained by other contributors, 走 in this phrase is not a repetition; it appears so only when a direct conversion is made into English.

往前 is used when merely indicating or moving or wishing to move towards a certain direction.

往前走 is used when physically walking or driving towards that direction.

Btw, there is also 前往 which is more for a planned journey to be taken shortly.

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