Chinese word can be single or combination, somehow it's hard to figure out which one should be a single word or combination word for the beginner. The only way is you need to practice more and more to find the common sense of Chinese.
e.g.
听说她明天要出差去很远的地方。
（I) heard that she'll be on a far away business trip tomorrow.
If you try to understand this sentence by separating each character, it would be very confusing.
听hear 说speak 她she 明bright 天sky 要want 出out 差bad 去go 很very 远far 的of 地ground 方square。
Therefore, not only need you understand the single character, but also the derived words come from this single character. e.g.
听——>听说hear，听话listen to me ，听课listening in class，听懂understand
明——>明天tomorrow，明日tomorrow，明晚tomorrow night，明早tomorrow morning，明亮bright，明明obviously，明星celebrity，明白understand
出——>出差do assigned work in far away，出去go out，出门go out，出走run away，出国travel to other country，出家be a monk，出山 do something impotent after long time seclusion，出生born
地——>地方place，地上on ground，地下underground，地板floor，地面surface of the ground ，地标landmark