"What's in the refrigerator?"

Translation: 冰箱里有什么？

[marchionesselle]

什么在冰箱里？　Ｉｓ　ｔｈｉｓ　ａｌｓｏ　ｒｉｇｈｔ?

[wegou]

It's right but not commonly use. Native here.

[purplelotus88]

In Chinese, location comes first in the sentence, if not immediately then after the subject. It's just what sounds natural to them, I don't make the rules.

[NathanRasm]

That's true for location modifiers, but not for location predicates. 在 is the main verb in mawmawile's question.

[Sue950221]

Can someone please explain why “ 里 ” is located where it is in the sentence? Is "牛奶在冰箱里“ written correctly?

[Drumpat01]

As far as I can tell here, a better English translation should have been, "The fridge has inside what?" I know it's not proper English, but I've noticed a lot of time that if you think in almost a stereotype-like broken English, the sentence structure makes more sense.

[theAkornTree]

This is known as back-translation and is a useful tool in linguistics to see sentence structures and check translation work.

[Ree413612]

Or even better: "The inside of the refrigerator has what?", as li is part of the subject.

[fhwqhgads]

More like "The refigerator's inside has what?" to preserve word order.

[Phill858962]

Would the sentance still make sense without 里?

[IanMcFarla17]

Why is 有rather than 在 used in this answer? (Would 冰箱里在什么 also be correct?)

[BarbaraCha360905]

No. In your sentence there is no verb. Zai is not functioning as a verb in your sentence.

[abla306812]

Please why do we have to put "you" in this sentence? (with the second tone on the o... I don't know how to write it on my phone)

[richard711603]

有 （yǒu, third tone) is use as: there is.
A literal translation of the characters is: refrigerator inside there is what

[richard711603]

Would 在冰箱里是什么 be acceptable?

[wegou]

You can use it only When you know something is in The fridge, But don't know what it is. And you should use 在冰箱里的是什么？You have to put a 的 behind adverb/Adjective to make it a Subject/Object.

[richard711603]

Thanks. You have provided me with another grammar tip, I had not understood before.