Level 1 Lesson 1.1 – I Live in Beijing
HSK 1 LESSON: I Live In Somewhere In Chinese | Preposition & Verb 在 In Chinese
In this HSK 1 lesson we'll learn how to say I live in somewhere in Chinese. We'll learn the differences between the Preposition 在 in Chinese and also the Verb 在 in Chinese. And we'll be able to say school and dormitory and their measure words.
If you're a day-1 beginner, please start with our Beginner's Basic Course.
- To live in somewhere in Chinese: 住在 +somewhere
- Preposition 在 in Chinese: at/in/on (+somewhere)
- Verb 在 in Chinese: to be at/in/on (+somewhere)
- Measure Words for places and space in Chinese： 所 间
VOCABULARY
| HSK | CHINESE |
PINYIN | P.O.S | ENGLISH | AUDIO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 住 | zhù | v. | to live | |
| 1 | 在1 | zài | prep. | in/at/on (+somewhere) | |
| 1 | 在2 | zài | v. | to be in/at/on (+somewhere) | |
| 1 | 家 | jiā | n. | home; family | |
| 1 | 北京 | Běijīng | pn. | Beijing | |
| n/a | 所 | suǒ | mw. | measure word for institutions | |
| 1 | 学校 | xuéxiào | n. | schools in general | |
| 1 | 间 | jiān | mw. | measure word for rooms | |
| 5 | 宿舍 | sùshè | n. | dormitory building; dormitory room | |
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: To Live in Somewhere Chinese · HSK 1
zhù 住 to live
We can use this structure to say to live somewhere in Chinese:
Subject + 住 + Preposition 在 + Place
- wǒ zhùzài Běijīng 我住在北京。 I live in Beijing.
- tā zhùzài xuéxiào 他住在学校。 He lives at school.
Grammar 2: Preposition 在 in Chinese · HSK 1
zài 在 in/on/at (+somewhere)
在 can be used as a preposition, followed by a place, meaning the presence is in, on or at this place:
Preposition 在 + Place
- tā zhùzài Zhōngguó 他住在中国。 He lives in China.
- tā zhùzài zhèjiān sùshè 他住在这间宿舍。 He lives in this dormitory room.
For negative sentences, the negative adverb 不 goes before the verb.
- tā bú zhùzài Zhōngguó 他不住在中国。 He doesn't live in China.
- tā bú zhùzài zhèjiān sùshè 他不住在这间宿舍。 He doesn't live in this dormitory room.
Grammar 3: Verb 在 in Chinese · HSK 3
zài 在 to be in/on/at (+somewhere)
在 can also be used as a verb, followed by a place, meaning to be in, on or at this place.
Subject + Verb 在 + Place
- tā zài Zhōngguó 他在中国。 He is in China.
- tā zài xuéxiào 他在学校。 He is at school.
For negative sentences, the negative adverb 不 goes before 在 because 在 is the verb itself.
- tā bú zài Zhōngguó 他不在中国。 He is not in China.
- tā bú zài xuéxiào 他不在学校。 He is not at school.
Grammar 4: Omission of Two 的 in Chinese · HSK 1
We learned omission of Possessive Particle 的 in Basic Course Lesson 8.1. Sometimes there can be two Possessive Particle 的 in a phrase. In those situations, we can omit none, one, or both 的. So we can say the same phrase in four different ways (personally I prefer the last one because it's the easiest one to say):
| my friends' home | |
| 我的朋友的家 |
wǒde péngyoude jiā |
| 我朋友的家 | wǒ péngyoude jiā |
| 我的朋友家 |
wǒde péngyou jiā |
| 我朋友家 |
wǒ péngyou jiā |
Grammar 5: Measure Words 所 and 间 in Chinese · HSK 1
suǒ 所 measure word for institutions
- yì suǒ xuéxiào 一所学校 a school
jiān 间 measure word for rooms
- yì jiān sùshè 一间宿舍 a dormitory room
Is there a reason for using bàba māmā for parents instead of fùmǔ?
fùmǔ 父母 is more likely to be used in formal situation and written form. bàbamāma 爸爸妈妈 is more common for saying parents in Chinese in daily communication.
Lili, it seems to me to be more useful to see 住在 as a two character verb (like 喜欢), than to see the first character as the verb and the second as a preposition, because in normal Chinese grammar a prepositional phrase with 在+location appears BEFORE the verb rather than after it: If we see 住 alone as the verb, then we have to explain why 在 comes after the verb as a special exception to the normal Chinese-sentence word order.
住 itself is a Verb. 北京 is the Object of the Preposition 在, and 在北京 is a Prepositional Phrase used as a Bǔyǔ 补语 Complement of the Verb Predicate 住.
The Grammar of Bǔyǔ 补语 Complement will be further explained in future levels and lessons.
Thank you for that great job, you’re a very good Teacher! I learn a lot of things from you. But I have some problem with the characters, because I learn by Chinese traditional characters. So I get confuse sometimes. 謝謝妳，老師。
Thanks for giving us such a good feedback on our HSK 1 lesson. When I was creating the course I thought about adding both Simplified and Traditional characters but unfortunately I had to only go with one because there is only so much space on the video screen and I wanted to make the fonts big enough to see, especially for Chinese beginners.
Perhaps I’ll add a list of vocabulary with both Simplified and Traditional for reference as a supplement of the course in the future.
I am so glad that i can remember the chinese characters learning from chineseforus. I struggled learning previously from other websites as they were too difficult for my level. I find that I learn better with the quizzes here as the characters learnt are repeated to reinforce my learning. I love how the lessons are structured.
As a Beginner, I am enjoying your HSK 1 lesson and finding your structure/approach easy to learn.
Was going to start on Hsk 2, but took a look at this lesson and find its excellent review and great sentence pronunciation practice for me. so will go through the Hsk 1 as well. Glad I joined, this course seems well put together. Looking forward to doing them!
i got a hundred percent on the lesson 7 quiz. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD!!!! 🙂
Great lesson! You are a great teacher and the lessons are super helpful.
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谢谢你们！
Thank you so much for choosing our HSK 1 lesson and course and give us such a wonderful feedback!