▎在, zài, (Prep), Locative Marker, at, located at, situated at (1)

 

Function 在 introduces the location of someone or something.

1 我在臺灣。

Wǒ zài Táiwān.

I am in Taiwan.

2 他們學校在花蓮。

Tāmen xuéxiào zài Huālián.

Their school is in Hualian.

3 餐廳在宿舍的一樓。

Cāntīng zài sùshè de yì lóu.

The restaurant is on the first floor of the dormitory.

 

Structures The primary structure is Noun＋在＋Location. There are three types of location as shown below:

(1) Type A:

 

Place Words

臺北Táiběi ‘Taipei’, 花蓮Huālián ‘Hualien’, 臺灣Táiwān ‘Taiwan’… 學校xuéxiào ‘school’, 餐廳cāntīng ‘restaurant’, 宿舍sùshè ‘dormitory’…

1 我們學校在臺北。

Wǒmen xuéxiào zài Táiběi.

Our school is in Taipei.

2 我爸爸早上在學校。

Wǒ bàba zǎoshàng zài xuéxiào.

My dad is at school in the mornings.

(2) Type B:

 

Localizers	Suffix
上 shàng ‘top’	面 miàn or 邊 biān
下 xià ‘down’
前 qián ‘front’
後 hòu ‘back’
裡 lĭ ‘inside’
外 wài ‘outside’
旁邊 pángbiān ‘next to’
附近 fùjìn ‘nearby’

1 他在外面。

Tā zài wàimiàn.

He is outside.

2 圖書館在後面。

Túshūguǎn zài hòumiàn.

The library is in the back.

(3) Type C:

 

Noun	（的）	Location Type B
		上 shàng	面 miàn or 邊 biān
		下 xià
		前 qián
		後 hòu
		裡 lĭ
		外 wài
		旁邊 pángbiān
		附近 fùjìn

1 我在宿舍裡面。

Wǒ zài sùshè lǐmiàn.

I am in the dormintory.

2 那家店在你家附近嗎？

Nà jiā diàn zài nǐ jiā fùjìn ma?

Is that store near your house?

3 咖啡店在宿舍的旁邊，不在裡面。

Kāfēi diàn zài sùshè de pángbiān, bú zài lǐmiàn.

The coffee shop is next to the dorm, not inside.

4 游泳池在圖書館的後面，不在前面。

Yóuyǒngchí zài túshūguǎn de hòumiàn, bú zài qiánmiàn.

The swimming pool is behind the library, not in front.

5 他和朋友在圖書館後面的咖啡店。

Tā hé péngyǒu zài túshūguǎn hòumiàn de kāfēi diàn.

He and his friend are at the coffe shop behind the library.

 

Usage

(1) When the noun after 在zài is a common noun, a locative word has to be added after the common noun to turn it into a place noun. For example, in order to express ‘He is in the house’, you cannot say

＊他在房子Tā zài fángzi; rather, you need to say 他在房子裡面。Tā zài fángzi lǐmiàn. (房子裡面fángzi lǐmiàn is Type C with the 的 deleted.)

(2) When the noun after 在zài is a proper place name, a locative word is not allowed or necessary. For example, in order to express ‘He is in Taiwan’, one says 他在臺灣。Tā zài Táiwān, but not ＊他在臺灣裡面。Tā zài Táiwān lǐmiàn. On the other hand, in order to express ‘He is in school’, one can say either 他在學校。Tā zài xuéxiào, or 他在學校裡（面）。Tā zài xuéxiào lǐ (miàn). The addition of the locative word (裡面lǐmiàn, in this case) makes the location more explicit.

(3) The locative word 裡面lǐmiàn is a special case. Sometimes, it can be omitted. For example, 他在圖書館看書。Tā zài túshūguǎn kànshū means ‘He’s reading in the library’. There is no 裡面lǐmiàn in the sentence, but the sentence still means inside the library. However, when the intended meaning is not ‘inside’, then a locative word is required. For example, in order to express ‘He is reading outside the library’, one has to say 他在圖書館外面看書。Tā zài túshūguǎn wàimiàn kànshū.

(4) Notice that the reference point is placed first and the locative word is placed after it. For example, 房子的前面fángzi de qiánmiàn ‘in front of the house’ is different from 前面的房子qiánmiàn de fángzi ‘the house in front’. (The former is Type C, but the latter is modifier＋noun.)

(5) Abbreviations of locative phrases without 的 are common. For example, ‘downstairs’ is 樓下lóuxià, not ＊樓的下面lóu de xiàmiàn; ‘on the floor’ is 地上dìshàng, not ＊地的上面dì de shàngmiàn.

(6) When the 的 is omitted, the suffix 面miàn in 裡面lǐmiàn, 外面wàimiàn, 上面shàngmiàn, etc, can be omitted. For example, 房子的裡面fángzi de lǐmiàn ‘inside the house’ is often just 房子裡fángzi lǐ and 杯子上面bēizi shàngmiàn ‘on the cup’ is shortened to 杯子上bēizi shàng.