huìyuánkǎ zài chǔwùguì lǐ.

to be at

Breakdown of huìyuánkǎ zài chǔwùguì lǐ.

• 里lǐ: inside
• 会员卡huìyuánkǎ: membership card
• 储物柜chǔwùguì: locker

Questions & Answers about huìyuánkǎ zài chǔwùguì lǐ.

Why is the word order 会员卡 在 储物柜里 instead of something more like English is in the locker?

Chinese often says things in the order:

thing + location phrase

So here:

• 会员卡 = the membership card
• 在储物柜里 = in the locker

Put together, it literally looks like:

membership card + at/in + locker + inside

That is a very normal way to say where something is in Chinese.

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What does 在 (zài) mean here?

In this sentence, 在 marks location. It works like at / in / on depending on context.

So 在储物柜里 means in the locker.

A very common pattern is:

A 在 B + location word
= A is at/in/on B

For example:

• 书在桌子上。 = The book is on the table.
• 手机在包里。 = The phone is in the bag.

Here, 在 is not really an action like to be located in English grammar terms—it is just the normal way Chinese shows location.

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Why is 里 (lǐ) added after 储物柜 (chǔwùguì)?