在
zài HSK1

be at

在 zài
[location/time] preposition
Used as a linker to introduce the time, place, or situation of an action, meaning "at", "in", or "on".

在中国的生活怎么样？

zài zhōng​guó de shēng​huó zěn​me​yàng?

How is life in China?

他在这房子里不安全。

tā zài zhè fáng​zi li bù ān​quán.

He's not safe in this house.

to be at preposition
To be located at, in, or on; to be present or at home.

你怎么知道我在这里？

nǐ zěn​me zhī​dao wǒ zài zhè​lǐ?

How did you know I was here?

他们可以在任何地方。

tā​men kě​yǐ zài rèn​hé dì​fang.

They could be anywhere.

[progressive] particleadverb
Used before a verb to show that an action is currently in progress.

我在想你是否会帮我。

wǒ zài xiǎng nǐ shì​fǒu huì bāng wǒ.

I was wondering if you'd help me.

整个世界都在看着他。

zhěng​gè shì​jiè dōu zài kàn zhe tā.

The entire world is watching him.

to exist verb
To exist, live, or be alive.

他在，但我们看不见。

tā zài, dàn wǒ​men kàn bu jiàn.

He’s here, but we can’t see him.

to depend on prepositionverb
to depend on; to rest with; to be determined by
to occupy verb
to occupy a certain position; to belong to a certain organization or group
surname
a Chinese surname
place
dwelling place; location

Cross-References

Same as

Frequency
Character
Written text
6th most common 10383.1 per million
Movie subtitles
12th most common 11664.3 per million appears in 100% of films
Word
Movie subtitles
12811.0 per million appears in 100% of films
Written text
10498.8 per million

Details
HSK 2.0
Level 1
HSK 3.0
Level 1
Strokes
6
Unicode
U+5728

Sources
Frequency data
MTSU Chinese text computingSUBTLEX-CHBCC Corpus (BLCU)