Breakdown of tā méi kànjiàn wǒ, yīnwèi tā yìzhí zài dǎ diànhuà.
没méi
not
他tā
he
在zài
progressive marker
我wǒ
me
Questions & Answers about tā méi kànjiàn wǒ, yīnwèi tā yìzhí zài dǎ diànhuà.
Why is it 没 and not 不 in 他没看见我?
Use 没(有) to negate completed events, existence, or achieved results. 看见 is a resultative verb (“see/notice successfully”), so to say the result did not occur, you use 没(有): 他没(有)看见我. 不 is for habitual, general, or volitional negation (e.g., 他不看手机 “he doesn’t look at his phone”).
Should there be 了 after 看见? Why not 看见了?
In the negative you cannot use perfective 了: 他没看见我 is correct, but 他没看见了我 is wrong. In the affirmative, either is fine: 他看见我了 or 他看见了我. Both mark the event as realized; word order slightly shifts focus, but both are common.
What’s the difference between 看见, 看到, and 看?
- 看见 (kànjiàn) and 看到 (kàndào) are both resultative: “manage to see; end up seeing.” In most everyday contexts they’re interchangeable.
- 看 (kàn) alone is “to look/read/watch,” not necessarily implying a successful “seeing.” Here you want the achieved result, so 看见/看到 is better.
How is 没看见 different from 看不见?