Learn Hardcore Chinese: chūmén yǐqián, tā zǒngshì kàn yíxià qiánbāo, hùzhào hé shǒujī zài bù zài bāo li. - Before going out, she always checks whether her wallet, passport, and phone are in her bag.

✩ 她总是出门以前看一下...
Grammatically it’s not wrong, but it slightly interrupts the normal flow (adverb 总是 usually stays close to the verb phrase, and the time phrase usually doesn’t split it).

So:

Preferred: 出门以前，她总是… / 她出门以前总是…

What’s the difference between 出门 and something like 离开家 or 出去?

All can involve “going out”, but their usage differs:

出门
Literally “exit the door”, but idiomatically “go out (of the house/room/office)”.
Very common for “going out” in daily life:
- 我出门了。= “I’m heading out.”
离开家
Literally “leave home”.
Stronger sense of leaving the home as a place, not just stepping out:
- 他十八岁离开家。= “He left home when he was 18.” (more permanent/serious)
出去
“go out” in a more physical/spatial sense, often contrasted with 进来 “come in”:
- 出去玩 = go out to have fun
- 出去一下 = step outside for a bit

In this sentence, 出门以前 fits best because we’re talking about a routine check before going out of where she currently lives/stays.

What does 以前 (yǐqián) add here? Could we use 之前 (zhīqián) instead?

以前 means “before / in the past (before some point)”.

In this sentence:

出门以前 = “before going out”

You can almost always swap 以前 with 之前 in this kind of time phrase:

出门以前 ≈ 出门之前

Differences:

以前 is a bit more common and neutral in everyday speech.
之前 can feel slightly more formal or bookish, but it’s also very common in spoken Mandarin now.

So:

出门以前，她总是…
出门之前，她总是…

Both are fine and natural.

What exactly does 总是 (zǒngshì) mean here? Where in the sentence can it go?

总是 means “always / invariably”.

Normal placement is:

Subject + 总是 + Verb Phrase
- 她总是看一下... = She always checks...

In this sentence:

出门以前，她总是看一下...

Other natural placements:

出门以前，她总是看一下...
她出门以前总是看一下...

But not:

✩ 她看一下总是钱包、护照... (wrong: splits verb and its object unnaturally)

So: keep 总是 closely in front of the main verb phrase: 看一下…

What does 看一下 (kàn yíxià) mean exactly? Why add 一下 instead of just saying 看?

看 = “to look (at), to see”.
看一下 literally = “look once / take a quick look”.

一下 after a verb often softens it and suggests:

a quick action
a casual check
a light tone (less abrupt)

So:

看钱包 = look at the wallet (sounds more direct)
看一下钱包 = have a quick look at the wallet (more natural and softer here)

In this context, she is quickly checking whether those items are in the bag, not examining them in detail, so 看一下 is more idiomatic.

What is going on with 在不在 in 手机在不在包里? Why is it “在不在” instead of using 吗?

在不在 is an example of the A-not-A question pattern in Chinese.

For verbs/adjectives, you can form a yes/no question by repeating the word with 不 in between:

是不是 (shì-bu-shì) = is or isn’t
有没有 (yǒu-méi-yǒu) = have or not have
在不在 (zài-bu-zài) = be located or not

So:

钱包在包里。 = The wallet is in the bag.
钱包在不在包里？ = Is the wallet in the bag (or not)?

In this sentence, the whole “在不在包里” is treated as the content she’s checking:

她看一下钱包、护照和手机在不在包里。
= She checks whether the wallet, passport, and phone are in the bag.

Because the A-not-A form itself is a yes/no structure, you don’t add 吗 to it:

✩ 钱包在不在包里吗？ (usually avoided; redundant)
✅ 钱包在不在包里？

Why is it 在不在包里 and not something like 在包里不在?

在不在 is one fixed A-not-A unit meaning “be (located) or not”. You don’t split it around the object.

Basic structure:

Noun + 在 + Location
- 钱包在包里。 = The wallet is in the bag.

When you turn 在 into an A-not-A pattern, you get:

Noun + 在不在
- Location
  - 钱包在不在包里？ = Is the wallet in the bag?

If you say 在包里不在, you are breaking the pattern and the sentence becomes ungrammatical and confusing, like saying “Is the wallet in the bag not be?” in English.

Could we say 有没有在包里 instead of 在不在包里? What’s the difference?

You can use 有没有 in some similar contexts, but it changes the grammar slightly.

在不在包里 focuses on location:
- “Is it in the bag (or not)?”
有没有在包里 would literally mean:
- “Does it have (the state of) being in the bag (or not)?”
  This is more awkward and rarely used in exactly that shape.

More natural patterns with 有没有:

包里有没有钱包？ = Is there a wallet in the bag? / Does the bag have a wallet in it?
她看一下包里有没有钱包、护照和手机。
= She checks whether there is a wallet, passport, and phone in the bag.

So:

Original: …看一下钱包、护照和手机在不在包里。
Alternative: …看一下包里有没有钱包、护照和手机。

Both are natural but slightly different structures:

The original keeps 钱包、护照和手机 as the subject.
The alternative makes 包里 the place and asks if it has those items.

Why do we say 钱包、护照和手机 with “、” and 和? Could we leave out 和?

In Chinese, to list several nouns:

Use the 顿号 “、” (the little comma used in Chinese lists) between items.
Use 和 = “and” before the last item (very similar to English).

So:

钱包、护照和手机
= wallet, passport, and phone

You normally keep 和 before the final item to sound natural. Without 和, it sounds like a looser list or like you just stopped mid-list:

钱包、护照、手机 (okay in some headings, notes, or bullet points)
In a full sentence as a smooth list, 和 is preferred before the last item.

Why is there no 把 in this sentence? Could we say: 她总是把钱包、护照和手机看一下在不在包里?

The structure with 把 that you suggested is not natural here.

把-sentence pattern is roughly:
- Subject + 把 + Object + Verb + (Result/Location/etc.)
In our original sentence, the verbs are:
- 看一下 (quickly look/check)
- 在不在包里 (a clause describing location)

To use 把, you would need something like:

她总是把钱包、护照和手机拿出来看一下。
= She always takes out the wallet, passport, and phone to take a quick look.

In the original sentence, we’re not acting on the objects in a way that changes their state/location; we are checking a fact about them (whether they’re in the bag). That doesn’t fit naturally into a 把 structure.

So:

Original: 她总是看一下钱包、护照和手机在不在包里。 (natural)
✩ 她总是把钱包、护照和手机看一下在不在包里。 (unnatural/ungrammatical)

What does 在包里 vs 在包里面 mean? Is there a difference between 里 and 里面?

里 and 里面 both mean “inside / in”.
包里 = “in the bag”
包里面 = “inside the bag”

In most everyday cases, 里 and 里面 are interchangeable. 里面 can feel slightly:

more explicit
sometimes a bit more colloquial/emphatic

So you could also say:

钱包、护照和手机在不在包里面。 (fine)

No real meaning change here; 包里 is just a bit shorter and very common.

How do we know this sentence is about a habit in the past and not just one single time, since there is no tense marking in Chinese?

Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does (no “-ed” ending, etc.). Instead, it uses:

Time expressions: 以前 (“before”, “in the past”)
Adverbs of frequency: 总是 (“always”)

In this sentence:

出门以前 = before going out (each time she went out)
她总是… = she always…

Together, they imply a repeated, habitual action in the past:

“Before going out, she always checked…”

If it were just once, you’d expect something like:

有一次出门以前，她看了一下… = Once, before going out, she took a quick look…

Why is it 她 (tā) here? Is there any spoken difference between 他, 她, and 它?

Written Chinese distinguishes three third-person pronouns:

他 = he / him (male)
她 = she / her (female)
它 = it (animals/objects, depending on context)

In speech, all three are pronounced tā with the same tone (first tone). There is no difference in sound.

So:

The sentence uses 她 to specify the person is female in writing.
When spoken, you’d just hear tā, and the gender would come from context, not pronunciation.