Jump to content
Chinese-Forums
  • Sign Up

你看见<了>吗? = Do you see?


rtf

Recommended Posts

各位好:

 

 

There`s an extract from a book:

 

前面正闪着红灯 (There's a blinking red light ahead), 你看见?  (do you see it?)  
 

 

How come 看见is used in the present?  Isn`t enough as a complement of result  in 看见 to mean 'see',not 'look'?  Well,I would render 你看见? as 'Do you see it now (because you didn`t before)'. Or maybe it`s just a rhythm filler here?

 

 

 

谢谢。

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read this as asking if you have successfully seen it (hence the 了) where as without the 了 it feels more like its asking if you are "able" to see. To use another example, if I saw "你去吗?" I would read this as "can you go? will you go?" but if I wanted to know if something successfully went or not I would expect to see 你去过了吗?“ or "did you go?" - 了 is asking if you "completed" the verb (看见)

 

Sorry I can't provide any grammar explanations. This is just my instinct...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here 了 is a modal particle (语气助词) used to indicate that a action is completed. If it is missed, the sentence has no loss in meaning but sounds a little odd. So you are right.

 

 it`s just a rhythm filler here

 

 
Modal particle is an important feature of Chinese language, its equivalents are difficult to find in English. 
 
To emphasise that the action was completed in a past time, 过 is necessary: 
 
1. 你看见这东西吗?
2. 你见这东西吗?
 
Or in the topic-comment (theme-rheme) structure:
 
3. 这东西你见吗?
4. 这东西你见吗?
 
In the last sentence, 了's role as a modal particle is obvious, and it can be dropped absolutely.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Click here to reply. Select text to quote.

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...