Saying "see"
I am new so please forgive any ignorance on my part. Regarding lesson 1.1, does anyone know why dao is put after jian? (i.e. jiandao), The lesson says it means "see". I have looked in various learning materials and do not understand why dao would be placed after jian to mean "see". And I do not see this word in my Chinese dictionary (except meaning "scissors" with different tone marks). Really appreciate any help you can provide on this matter. Thx.
Nǐhǎo!
"jiàn见" by itself means "see". "dào" is written as "" in Chinese character. The word you talked about in your post with a different tone (first tone)"刀" is a different word, meaning "knife".
"到" here is used after the main action word "jiàn见" as a complement, indicating the result "got to see you".
In other words, "jiàn nǐ 见你" means "to see you" (haven't seen yet), whereas "jiàndào nǐ 见到你" means "having seen you (I am very happy)".
Hope that makes sense
Regards,
Linping
"jiàn见" by itself means "see". "dào" is written as "" in Chinese character. The word you talked about in your post with a different tone (first tone)"刀" is a different word, meaning "knife".
"到" here is used after the main action word "jiàn见" as a complement, indicating the result "got to see you".
In other words, "jiàn nǐ 见你" means "to see you" (haven't seen yet), whereas "jiàndào nǐ 见到你" means "having seen you (I am very happy)".
Hope that makes sense
Regards,
Linping
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