qǐng kànkan kǒudai lǐmiàn.

inside

Breakdown of qǐng kànkan kǒudai lǐmiàn.

• 请qǐng: to ask (politely)
• 看看kànkan: to take a look

Questions & Answers about qǐng kànkan kǒudai lǐmiàn.

What does 请 do at the beginning of the sentence?

请 makes the sentence more polite. In this kind of sentence, it works a lot like please in English.

So 请看看口袋里面 is softer and more courteous than just 看看口袋里面.

A few useful comparisons:

• 看口袋里面。 = very direct, like a command
• 看看口袋里面。 = a bit softer
• 请看看口袋里面。 = polite request

Why is 看 repeated as 看看 instead of just 看?

This is a very common Mandarin pattern: repeating a verb can make the action sound:

• lighter
• brief
• casual
• less forceful

So 看看 often means something like:

• have a look
• take a quick look
• look a bit

It does not usually mean look twice. It is more about tone than literal repetition.

Examples:

• 你看。 = Look.
• 你看看。 = Take a look.

Why does Mandarin say 口袋里面 instead of something more like inside the pocket first?