7.2 The Preposition 喺 hai2 / 响 hoeng2 I (‘in, on, at’)

The preposition 喺 hai2 (also pronounced as 响 hoeng2) means ‘in, on, at’. We use 喺 hai2 to indicate where an activity takes place. We put a location after 喺 hai2 to form a prepositional phrase.

	Prepositional Phrase
	Preposition	Noun
	喺 hai2 ‘in, on, at’	Location
	喺	中環
	hai2	zung1 waan4
	in	Central

in Central [a business district in Hong Kong]

	Prepositional Phrase
	Preposition	Noun
	喺 hai2 ‘in, on, at’	Location
	喺	中大
	hai2	zung1 daai6
	at	Chinese University of Hong Kong

at the Chinese University of Hong Kong [a university in Hong Kong]

We put the prepositional phrase before the verb we want to modify.

Subject	喺 hai2 ‘in, on, at’	Location	Verb
我	喺	中環	返工	。
ngo5	hai2	zung1 waan4	faan1 gung1	.
I	in	Central	go to work

I go to work in Central.

Subject	喺 hai2 ‘in, on, at’	Location	Verb
我	喺	中大	讀	。
ngo5	hai2	zung1 daai6	duk6	.
I	at	Chinese University of Hong Kong	study

I study at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

⚠️ The preposition 喺 hai2 (‘in, on, at’) and the verb 係 hai6 (‘to be’) are different in their tone. We say 喺 hai2 with the high rising tone and 係 hai6 with the low level tone.