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    Chinese Grammar

    Expressing 'catching sight of' with 看见 (kànjiàn)

    Actions & Events
    Result & Consequence

    Structure

    Subject + 看见 + (了) + Object

    Explanation

    看见 (kànjiàn) is a verb meaning "to see" or "to catch sight of." It is a resultative complement compound where 看 means "to look" and 见 indicates the successful result of seeing. Use 看见 to emphasize that someone actually saw something, as opposed to 看 alone which just means "to look."

    Examples

    • 我在地铁上看见了一个老同学。

      Wǒ zài dìtiě shàng kànjiàn le yí gè lǎo tóngxué.

      I saw an old classmate on the subway.

    • 你看见我的钥匙了吗？我找了半天。

      Nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de yàoshi le ma? Wǒ zhǎo le bàntiān.

      Have you seen my keys? I've been looking for ages.

    • 她一抬头就看见窗外在下雪。

      Tā yì táitóu jiù kànjiàn chuāng wài zài xià xuě.

      As soon as she looked up, she saw it was snowing outside the window.

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    Expressing 'catching sight of' with 看见 (kànjiàn) | Chinese Grammar