What is the difference between these two sentences?

Question

我跑了3公里的步 vs 我跑步跑了3公里. They both mean "I ran for 3 km", right?

Answer 1

Firstly, they both mean "I ran for 3km", but there does be difference between them, i will illustrate the difference in the aspect of what speaker want to emphasize rather than grammar matters.

"我跑了三公里的步": the main meaning speakers what to show is “我跑了步”-"I've run", no matter how long.

“我跑步跑了三公里”: the focus of this sentence is "我跑了三公里"-"I run for 3km".

In Chinese, the adjunct word ahead of a noun is not important at all, by contrast, the adjunct word after a noun does matter, because that's exactly what speakers want to tell you.

Answer 2

1. 跑 | 3公里的 | 步

   • 跑步 is a simple (verb) + (noun) structure: 跑 (verb) + 步 (noun)

   • 3公里的 is a relative clause of the noun 步, that describe the length of it.

   • The relative clause 3公里的 is inserted between the verb and the noun 跑 | 3公里的 | 步

2. 跑步 | 跑了3公里 is a (topic) + (statement) structure

   • 跑步 (topic) + 跑了3公里 (statement)

The difference between #1. and #2. is:

1. treat 跑 | 步 as (verb) + (noun), then add a relative clause for the noun

The typical is :S+V+O.

2. 他（S）跑(V)步（O）跑了三公里（补语）。 Notice that We can totally ignore “跑了三公里”, so this is just answering for "How long did he ran"？So that's 3 kilometers.

Answer 3

Yes. The second option uses an extra clause and reintroduces the main verb, the first uses 的 to separate verb 跑 from noun 步. You can generalize it:

我唱了三分钟的歌 vs. 我唱歌唱了三分钟.

Answer 4

我跑了3公里的步。

——I had a three-kilometer run.

我跑步跑了3公里。

——I ran 3 kilometers.

Both are right no matter you say these sentence in oral/formal circumstances.

Answer 5

Yes, they have the same meaning.