Writing
看见 (kàn jiàn) — how to say "to see" in Chinese
看见
To see
verb
How to use it
What does 见 add to 看?
看 names the action of looking or watching. 见 follows it as a result complement showing that the looking succeeded: the result is actually seeing. So 看见 means to see, successful visual perception, as in 我看见你. The first character gives the action; the second gives its result.
我看见你
wǒ kàn jiàn nǐ
I see you.
Character composition
看
to look, to watch, to read
见
to see; to meet
Radicals / Keys
目
Eye
#109 · mù · 5 strokes
見
See
#147 · jiàn · 7 strokes
Collocations
看见朋友
kàn jiàn péng you
see a friend
Examples
今天我看见你，我很高兴。
Today I saw you, I am very happy.
Mnemonic
[kàn jiàn-] Kanye West finds a magical pair of glasses 👓 that let him "see" 看见 into the future! Every time he puts them on, he exclaims, "Look, through these I can 看 see what will happen next!"
Frequently asked questions
How to say see in Mandarin?
"to see" in Chinese is 看见 (kàn jiàn).
看见 meaning in English
看见 (kàn jiàn) means "To see".
How is 看见 pronounced?
It is pronounced kàn jiàn (written as kan jian, kanjian). You can listen to the pronunciation on this page.
How do you write "to see" in Chinese characters?
It is written 看见: 看 has 9 strokes, 见 has 4 strokes. The Writing section above animates the stroke order of each character and lets you trace it.
What HSK level is 看见?
看见 belongs to the HSK 1 vocabulary list.
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