← All lessons
Lesson 9 of 15
Pets, Home & Work
Say where a pet or person is, and ask what someone's job is
What you'll learn
- Say where an animal or person is using 在 (e.g. 'the cat is under the chair')
- Ask and answer whether a family has a pet, using 有
- Ask what job someone's parent does and name two jobs (医生, and working 在 a place)
Not taken yet
Lesson phases
- Dialogue
- Grammar
- Practice exercises
- Writing practice
- Speaking practice
New words in this lesson
Loading…
Writing characters
Where these characters come from
小
Three tiny marks — grains of sand. The opposite of 大.
在
A sprout pushing through earth: to be there, to exist.
儿
A child with the top of the skull still open — hence 'child', and the -r suffix.
子
An infant in swaddling, arms free.
下
A mark placed below a baseline: down, under.
工
A carpenter's square: work, craft.
Sentence patterns
在 for where something is
| Thing | 在 | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 狗 | 在 | 椅子下面。 |
| 我爸爸 | 在 | 医院工作。 |
| 猫 | 在 | 那儿。 |
Place comes after 在, and the whole phrase comes before the verb.
Tone pairs
Two-syllable words starting on tone 4 — listen for the shape, not the word.