Lesson 7 你住在哪儿？

Learn to Say Address in Chinese

Grammar

I. 在 Location Adverb

The Mandarin Chinese particle zài – 在 has several functions. It is most commonly used to indicate location. When used before a place word, zài means “on” “at” or “in”.

Here are some examples of zài as a location word:

Chinese Example	Pinyin	English Translation
他在家｡	tā zài jiā.	He is at home.
书在那里｡	shū zài nà lǐ.	The book is over there.

II. 在 Action is Happening

Another use for zài – 在 is to show that an action is occurring at the present moment. Zài is placed before the verb it modifies:

Here are some examples of zài used to show that an action is happening:

Chinese Example	Pinyin	English Translation
他们在看电视｡	tāmen zài kàn diàn shì.	They are watching TV.
她在考试｡	tā zài kǎoshì.	She is taking a test.

A Poem Using 住在

wǒ jiā zhù zài dà hǎi biān, tiān lán lán, hǎi lán lán, wǒ jiā zhù zài dà hǎi biān。 hǎi biān yǒu gè yuè liang wān, wān lǐ yǒu tiáo dǎ yú chuán。chuán shàng yǒu wèi lǎo yé ye, tā de gù shì shuì bù wán。

wǒ jiā zhù zài dà hǎi biān。 yǔ diǎn ér zhù zài yún duǒ lǐ。yú ér zhù zài xiǎo hé lǐ。 xiǎo niǎo zhù zài shù lín lǐ。huā ér zhù zài huā yuán lǐ。 chén lǎo shī zhù zài dà hǎi biān。

Practice the vocabulary for this lesson with games and activities! Click on the picture below to download all the words in PDF.

Quiz

Directions: Rearrange the words into complete sentences. Make sure to include punctuation marks.

Name Email

号，30，姐姐， 公园路，住在。

老师，哪儿，在，住？

她，大华，街，不，在，住。

哪儿，李，住，校长，在？

公园路，你，住，是不是，在？

小学路，13号，三楼，住在，玛丽。

也，王大中，住，小学，在，路。

吗，你的哥哥，住，街，大华，在？

我们，号，20，住，路，小学，在。

你爷爷，也，吗，楼，五，住？

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