"我在找我的手机。"
Translation:I am looking for my cell phone.
40 Comments
24
That you are doing it right now - "looking" as it were. You don't have to use it.
A: what are you doing? B: "我找我的手机 wǒ zhǎo wǒ de shǒujī (people say that too.)
Or: A: What are you doing? B: 我要找我的手機 wǒ yào zhǎo wǒ de shǒujī
which could be translated as: I want to find my phone/I'm trying to find my phone/I'm looking for my phone
Thinking about it, now I realize why there are so many different possible answers to the translation exercises in Duolingo!
在 and 正在 are adverbs used to show that the verb is in the process of happenING. As far as expressing the currently occurrING nature of an action, 正在 is even more emphatic than 在. In English, you might think of this as the difference between "I am looking for my phone now" and "I am looking for my phone right now".
真 is an adverb. It means "really" or "truly". As with "really" in English, it can be used to show magnitude or veracity.
Edit: 在 can also be a preposition mean at/in. That's a completely separate definition.
Gabrielle is right. You can say, "I'm eating" with 在. You can say, "I am at this very moment eating!" with 正在.
Zai 在 is used for something that are in action, the full word is 正在. It possible to use 正在 or 在 or 正 to express something that still on going, but here 在 is more suitable
What's the difference between searching and looking in this case? "I am searching for my cell phone." is marked wrong
No, it's not too strong. Duolingo is still in beta, so next time, just use the report button to help the developers.
Why is "I'm looking for my phone" correct, but "I'm looking for my mobile" rejected? :(
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Because this language course is still in beta. You can help by using the report button.
Please add mobile as a synonym of cell phone! I keep entering mobile and get the answer wrong! Very irritating!
I'm a native English speaker and I don't think finding my phone should be accepted as it sounds really awkward. Maybe "I am trying to find my phone" .
Looking and finding are not the same. If you are looking for your phone, it is misplaced. If you found your phone, then it is no longer missing.
I don't know if you are a native English speaker or not, but "finding" is the same meaning as "searching for". So "looking" and "finding" mean the same thing.
I am a native English speaker, and I disagree. I would say "finding" is the actual moment of discovery. "Looking for" is often a much longer process than "finding"! "Finding" is occassionally used during the searching process "I am finding a place to put this…", but that sentence really expresses the intention and certainty that you will find x, and that it will be soon. I would never use that case when searching for a missing object (you don't know how long it will take to find it, you don't know if you will find it, etc…).
However, "finding out" means "looking for" when the thing being sought is information. In Chinese, 找 means "to look for". 找到 means "to find" (literally: to look-arrive).
Why does the audio of the "机" at the end of the sentence sounds almost like a third tone? Isn't it supposed to be a first tone?
Not understanding why "I am searching for my cell phone" was incorrect..
I said "I am finding my cell phone." Why is this wrong I'm a native speaker
I don't understand the use of 在 in this sentence, even when I already have read the comments. :/
In English we put an "ing" after the root of a verb to indicate we are doing it. In Chinese they put a "在" before the verb to indicate they are doing it. That's the best way I've found to explain it to students. 在找 (at look) = looking.
I wrote I'm searching for my phone it was wrong it was i'm looking for my phone IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?!?!
