Level 3 · Lesson 17

书在桌子上，桌子上有书
The book is on the table / on the table there is a book

地图在黑板旁边。黑板旁边有一张地图。

The 在/有 split: 在 says where a known thing is, 有 says what stands at a known place.

听 · Listen

教室里
 安娜 —  李明，你的电脑在哪儿？ 
Li Ming, where is your computer?  
 李明 —  在教室里。电脑在桌子上。 
In the classroom. The computer is on the desk.  
 安娜 —  桌子上有什么？ 
What else is on the desk?  
 李明 —  有一本书和一支笔。 
There's a book and a pen.  
 安娜 —  地图呢？ 
And the map?  
 李明 —  地图在黑板旁边。窗户旁边也有一张地图。 
The map is beside the blackboard. There's another map beside the window too.  
 安娜 —  王老师在教室里吗？ 
Is Teacher Wang in the classroom?  
 李明 —  老师不在教室里，他在图书馆。 
The teacher isn't in the classroom, he's in the library.  

讲解 · Explanation

电脑在桌子上。

Use 在 when you both already know which thing you are talking about and the only question is where it is. The known thing comes first, 在 follows, the place comes last — and this sentence is the answer to 电脑在哪儿？ Notice the pinyin: a place word riding on the end of a noun goes light, so 桌子上 is zhuōzi shang and 教室里 is jiàoshì li, even though 上 on its own is shàng and 里 on its own is lǐ.

黑板旁边有一张地图。

Turn the sentence round and it does a different job. Now the place comes first and 有 tells you what is there, answering 黑板旁边有什么？ What follows 有 is news to the listener, so it normally arrives with a number and its 量词 — 一本书, 一支笔, 一张地图 — not as a bare noun the two of you have been discussing.

老师不在教室里。

One test picks the right verb every time. If you can point at the thing and ask 'where is it?', use 在. If you can point at the place and ask 'what is in it?', use 有. And to say something is not where it was expected, put 不 in front of 在 — 老师不在教室里 — then be helpful and say where it really is: 他在图书馆。

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
教室	classroom	一间教室 yì jiān jiàoshì; 教 is jiào here
黑板	blackboard	一块黑板 yí kuài hēibǎn
窗户	window	一扇窗户 yí shàn chuānghu; second syllable light
地图	map	一张地图 yì zhāng dìtú — flat, so 张
电脑	computer	一台电脑 yì tái diànnǎo; literally electric brain

练习 · Practice

我的电脑 ______ 桌子上。 You are saying where your own computer is. Which verb?

黑板旁边 ______ 一张地图。 Now the place comes first, and what follows is news. Which verb?

王老师 ______ 教室里，他在图书馆。 Fill in: the teacher is not in the classroom.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'On the blackboard there is a map.'

教室、黑板、窗户、地图、电脑 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

我的电脑在哪儿？桌子上有什么？

Describe the room you are sitting in twice over. First run through it with 在, naming each thing before you place it: 我的电脑在桌子上，书在椅子上。Then start again from the places and use 有, remembering the 量词 every time: 桌子上有一本书，房间里有一张地图。Same room, two different sentence shapes — and you now choose between them on purpose.