36.1 The Verb 喺 hai2 / 响 hoeng2 (‘to be in, on, at’)

In Grammar and Vocabulary 7.2, we learned that the preposition 喺 hai2 means ‘in, on, at’.

We can also use the word 喺 hai2 as a verb to mean ‘to be in, on, at’. We can use the sentence structure below to indicate the location of a person or thing. We put the person or thing before 喺 hai2 and the location after 喺 hai2. Note that 喺 hai2 is also sometimes pronounced as 响 hoeng2.

We can put 邊度 bin1 dou6 (‘where’) after 喺 hai2 to ask where a person or thing is.

Since 邊度 bin1 dou6 appears after a verb, we can optionally contract 邊度 bin1 dou6 to 邊 bin1.