Lesson 5, Pattern 1: Location of Action 在
last revised October 18, 2004

• 他在家吃中國飯 He eats Chinese food at home.

The preposition 在 plus a place word indicates the location where an action takes place.?Note that a location expression can go at the beginning or end of a sentence in English, but always goes before the verb in Chinese. It usually follows the subject, unless special emphasis or contrast is desired.?If there is an auxiliary verb such as 喜歡, the location expression can go between the auxiliary verb and the main verb.?If there is also a time expression, the time expression must come before the place expression.

Subject	Time, Adv, AV, or Place		V-(Obj) or Adjective	English Meaning
他	在家		吃中國飯。	He eats Chinese food at home.
你哥哥	在哪兒		工作？	Where does your brother work?
老王	在這個學校		工作。	Old Wang?works at this school.
張小姐	不喜歡	在圖書館	看書。	Miss Zhang doesn't like to read in the library.
高老師	昨天晚上	在他朋友家	做飯。	Teacher Gao made Chinese food at his friend's house yesterday evening.
張醫生	常常	在家	看電視。	Dr. Zhang often watches TV at home.
小白	不	在學校	工作。	Little Bai doesn't work at the school.
我	在美國		很高興。	I'm very happy in the U.S.

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