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Learn Hardcore Chinese: lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong. - The lawyer is looking at the contract.

Hardcore Chinese
/Setting up home internet service
/lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong.

lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong.

律师lǜshī　正在zhèngzài　看kàn　合同hétong。lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong.

The lawyer is looking at the contract.

Breakdown of lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong.

正在zhèngzàizhèngzài

progressive marker

合同hétonghétong

律师lǜshīlǜshī

Questions & Answers about lǜshī zhèngzài kàn hétong.

What is the basic word order of this sentence?

The pattern is:

Subject + ongoing-action marker + verb + object

So here:

律师 = subject
正在 = marks an action in progress
看 = verb
合同 = object

That is a very common Mandarin sentence structure.

What does 正在 mean here?

正在 shows that the action is happening right now or is in progress.

So it adds the idea of:

currently
right now
in the middle of

Without 正在, the sentence could still mean that the lawyer reads/is reading the contract, but 正在 makes the ongoing aspect clearer.

Can I say 律师在看合同 instead of 律师正在看合同?

Yes. 律师在看合同 is completely natural.

A simple comparison:

在 + verb = very common way to show an ongoing action
正在 + verb = also means ongoing action, often a little more explicit or slightly more formal
正在...呢 = even more clearly emphasizes that it is happening right now

So all of these can work:

律师在看合同。
律师正在看合同。
律师正在看合同呢。

Why is there no word for the or a before lawyer and ?

lawyer

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contract

Mandarin usually does not use articles like English a, an, or the.

So:

律师 can mean a lawyer, the lawyer, or just lawyer/lawyers depending on context.
合同 can mean a contract, the contract, or contracts, depending on context.

Mandarin relies much more on context than English does for this.

Does 看 mean look at or read here?

In this sentence, 看 most naturally means read, review, or look over.

That is because the object is 合同 (contract), which is a written document. With written materials, 看 often means:

read
review
examine

So although 看 is often introduced as to look, its actual meaning depends a lot on the object.

Why is there no measure word before 合同?

Because 合同 is just the direct object of the verb here. You do not need a measure word in that situation.

Measure words are usually needed when you have:

a number: 一份合同 = one contract
a demonstrative: 这份合同 = this contract
sometimes other quantity expressions

For contracts, a common measure word is 份:

一份合同
那份合同

But in 看合同, no measure word is needed.

Is 合同 singular or plural here?

It could be either, depending on context.

Mandarin nouns usually do not change form for singular vs. plural. So 合同 can mean:

a contract
the contract
contracts

If you want to make the number clear, you would add something else, such as:

一份合同 = one contract
两份合同 = two contracts
很多合同 = many contracts

How do I pronounce 律师 and 合同 correctly?

A few useful pronunciation notes:

律师 = lǜshī
- lǜ uses ü, not regular u
- 师 is pronounced shī, with a high level tone
合同 = hétong
- hé is second tone
- tong here is usually pronounced in a neutral tone in normal speech

Also:

正在 = zhèngzài
看 = kàn

A common difficulty for English speakers is lǜ. Make sure it is not lu. The lips should be rounded for ü.

Can I add 呢 at the end?

Yes. You can say:

律师正在看合同呢。

This makes the sentence sound more like:

the action is ongoing right now
the speaker is describing the current situation

It is very natural in conversation, especially when answering a question like What is the lawyer doing?

Are the spaces shown here normal in Chinese writing?

No. In normal Chinese writing, this would usually be written without spaces:

律师正在看合同。

Spaces are often added in learning materials to help beginners see the words more clearly, but standard written Chinese does not normally separate words with spaces the way English does.

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