"I can look at the map on my phone."

Translation: 我可以看我的手机里的地图。

[comadrejaweasel]

"我可以我的手机里看地图", 不能吗?

[Winston298006]

不对。基本上是：“我可不可以看...？” 或者是 “我可以看...吗？”

“我的手机里地图” 应该也不标准。如下应该都可以：
“我的手机里的地图”
“我手机里的地图”
“我的手机上的地图”
“我手机上的地图”

[AlexandrKara]

Thanks! And would adding 在 fix it: 我可以在我的手机里看地图?

[comadrejaweasel]

谢谢，你的解释得很清楚

[demitau]

Why 里 and the repetition of 的 are necessary

[comadrejaweasel]

I think it's not a repetition though. 里 indicates a place, and 的 subordinates "map" to "phone". So 我的手机里的地图 be like "the map THAT IS (的) IN (里) my cellphone.

[demitau]

But would 我手机的地图 mean any different?
In general I thought that any sort of repetition of 的 is redundant. And also that 里 means 'inside' in a more literal way

[Celticfiddleguy]

If you think about it, the map is more accurately "in" my phone than "on" it. We say "his number's in my phone" but "this app or a map etc. is ON my phone". Chinese seems to use either 里 and 上 more interchangeably than English.

[Elder-Simmons]

I... don't understand. Could I say "我可以在手机上看地图”? The grammar seems to me to suggest that it's saying the phone possesses the map, or that you own the map.

Update: looking at my sentence again, the 的 is important because it distinguishes between "any map on my phone" (手机上看地图) and "THE map (specific to context) on my phone." Any other insights?

[FlorianKok]

Does this Chinese sentence indicate a map function your phone possesses in contrast to a picture of a map you have stored on your phone?