Auntie Wang has done her taiji in the park for ten years. Chen Hao runs, but never more than three days running.
Chen Hao
王阿姨，您每天早上都来公园吗？
Wáng āyí, nín měitiān zǎoshang dōu lái gōngyuán ma ?
Auntie Wang, do you come to the park every morning?
Auntie Wang
差不多，我打太极打了十年了。
Chàbuduō, wǒ dǎ tài jí dǎ le shí nián le.
More or less. I have been doing taiji for ten years.
Chen Hao
难怪您身体这么好。
Nánguài nín shēntǐ zhème hǎo.
No wonder you are in such good shape.
Auntie Wang
你呢？年轻人更应该运动。
Nǐ ne ? Niánqīngrén gèng yīnggāi yùndòng.
And you? Young people ought to move about more.
Chen Hao
我跑步，可是跑得不快，也跑不远。
Wǒ pǎobù, kěshì pǎo de bù kuài, yě pǎo bù yuǎn.
I run, but not fast, and never very far.
Auntie Wang
慢一点儿没关系，天天跑才有用。
Màn yīdiǎnr méi guānxi, tiāntiān pǎo cái yǒu yòng.
Slowly does not matter: it is running every day that does the good.
Chen Hao
我常常跑三天就停了。
Wǒ chángcháng pǎo sān tiān jiù tíng le.
I often stop after three days.
Auntie Wang
那就先从两公里开始。
Nà jiù xiān cóng liǎng gōnglǐ kāishǐ.
Then start with two kilometres.
Chen Hao
好。太极难学吗？
Hǎo. Tài jí nán xué ma ?
All right. Is taiji hard to learn?
Auntie Wang
不难，你跟着我学，一个月就会了。
Bù nán, nǐ gēn zhe wǒ xué, yī gè yuè jiù huì le.
Not hard. Follow me and you will have it in a month.
Chen Hao
那我明天早上六点半来找您。
Nà wǒ míngtiān zǎoshang liù diǎn bàn lái zhǎo nín.
Then I will come and find you at half past six tomorrow morning.
Two almost identical sentences and two unrelated meanings. 跑得不快 judges the manner: he runs, and he runs slowly. 跑不远 states an impossibility: he has not got it in him to go far. The difference is the 得: when it is there, the 不 bears on the judgement; when it goes, the 不 slips into its place and denies the ability. The positive forms, by contrast, almost coincide: 跑得快 and 跑得远.
When a verb has an object and you want to say how long, Chinese repeats the verb: first 打太极, then 打了十年了. You may also say 太极打了十年了, putting the object at the head. What you cannot do is slip the duration between the verb and its object.
天天跑才有用: only running every day does any good. 才 says here that the condition just stated is the only one that will serve, and English often has to add "only" or "it is only". Set against it is 就, which makes the condition easy: 跑三天就有用 would promise an effect after three days.
