"Have you seen her book?"
Translation:你看见她的书了吗？
26 Comments
Yeah, I'm confused as to why all the other examples of this kind of sentence in the exercise have a 了 in them except for this one.
It is even explained explicitly like that in the grammar section of this lesson. Quote: "To ask Have you seen... (when looking for something or someone) use the pattern 你看见 + the thing or person you’re looking for + 了吗？"
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了 is in some of the answers but in others not. I think in this case it means an action that has been completed. 了has several meanings, but commonly it is used for completed actions (but not always in the past).
In English I suggest it could be interpreted as "have you seen her book" - up until that moment in time. So it's a completed action. 了can also be used to bring greater attention to something as well.
Unfortunately it is a bit confusing at first.
I would've thought "Have you ever seen her book" would use the experience particle 過 rather than the completed particle 了?
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This sentence brings up at least two issues: whether and how to indicate the past, and what's the difference between看, 见, 看见, etc. Chinese doesn't have tense, it has aspect, which is not the same thing, tricky though it is for us non-natives to understand. The past is not always overtly marked in the verb. It may be clear only in context, or from a time adverb (昨天, 已经, ...), etc., and not just from putting the perfective verbal 了 or the experiential 过 right after the verb. Sentential了 (suggested by a couple of people here), that comes at or near the end of a sentence or clause, is not the same as perfective verbal 了, even though one of its several meanings of uses is to indicate change of state to something different from the past. Here's a link listing a number of different ways to refer to the past in Chinese: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Referring_to_the_past
Various uses of 了: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/了
The second point, regarding differences between看, 见, 看见, etc., also connects to the question of indicating the past, because 看见 is a result complement (/complement of result), not simply a semantic melding of 看 look/read and 见 see/meet with. Because there's an indication of the result of an action, there's the implication that the action took place in the past, and lead to the result. Certain adjectives or single syllable verbs (including见 and到) are added a behind a (conventionally matching) main verb to form a result complement. Note that 听见, is a similar result complement in which we can see that 见 in such a construction need not literally mean see. In English, certain adverbs are used to similarly indicate a result: eat up, drink down, polish off, write up. Here are a couple of links about Chinese complements of result: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Result_complements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_grammar#Complement_of_result 看, 见, 看见, 看过
THANK YOU for the first coherent explanation of any aspect of Chinese I have seen in this entire course to date!
Art - then how do you explain the previous question in this chapter - "have you seen my cell phone? with the correct answer given as "你看见我的手机了吗?"? Same sentence construction different answer。
I really think that explanation belongs to the DL tutors. I don't think anyone else can second-guess what their aim is/was. Just because Art has shown some knowledge and research doesn't mean he can read minds.
Are there really tutors? I have seen no evidence of such a role. I see very occasional acceptance of a new solution and never any explanation of any issue raised by users.
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I'm not sure that's true though. I could say 我看见你的手机 and mean I see it now. It seems to me that the difference between 看 and 看见 is more like looking at and seeing than whether it has been completed.
I think it's the more general "look and see" rather than the specific "look at and see".
I think it covers things like seeing out of the corner of your eye where "look at" does not.
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Can "你看见她的书吗?" mean either "Do you see her book" or "Have you seen her book"?
- 96
This is clearly a mistake on Duo's part. The explanation for this lesson explicitly says:
To ask Have you seen... (when looking for something or someone) use the pattern 你看见 + the thing or person you’re looking for + 了吗？
了 emphasizes completed or changed actions, whether in the past, present, or future. Note that the English here is also not in the past but in some called the present perfect.
When this question is asked in Chinese, it uses "你看见她的书了吗？” but when I type this answer as the solution to the question when it's in English, it marks it as wrong.
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In earlier questions there is a 了after 书
I notice others have referred to this a year ago.
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Is my understanding correct: 你看见了她的书吗 = Have you seen her book? 你看见她的书吗 = Do you see her book?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Why is the answer "你看见她的书了吗？" My answer was "你看见她的书吗？" but it was wrong. I think my answer is better than the "model" answer and at least it should be an alternative instead of saying it's wrong.
Because your answer translates as action in the present (Do you see her book?) - note there is no 了 in your answer. However, original sentence is clearly refers to the action which is already completed in the past (Have you seen her book?).
