Comparing "jian" and "kan"

Both 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) are often used in informal and formal settings to mean “to meet” or “to see someone”. 见 (jiàn) can also mean to “meet up with” someone, while 看 (kàn) can also mean to watch, to read, or to look at, and even has a special use for visiting the doctor.

	见 (jiàn)	看 (kàn)
Meaning	to meet someone	to watch, to read, to look at, to visit
Part of Speech	verb	verb
Formality	flexible	flexible

To say "to read," "to watch," or "to look at" use 看 (kàn)

To describe a situation in which someone is reading a book, watching tv, taking in a sporting event or performance on tv or in person, or even enjoying the scenery only 看 (kàn) can be used, meaning "to watch" or "to look at."

Common Phrases

• 看 书
• 看 电影
• 看 手机
• 看 风景

Example Sentences

• 我 很 喜欢 看 书。
• 他 不 想 工作，他 想 看 手机。
• 昨天 我 去 看 电影 了。
• 我 喜欢 旅游，因为 我 想 看 风景。

To say "to meet up with" someone use 见 (jiàn)

Set Phrases

Meeting up (i.e., getting together, a rendezvous) with someone is often used in fixed phrases, often resembling the English pattern “see you tomorrow”, “see you next time”, etc.

• 明天 见
• 见面
• 好 久 不 见

Common Phrases

If you want to describe a situation in which you go and see someone in person, you also use 见 (jiàn).

• 见 朋友qù kàn nǐ go see you

Example Sentences

While 见 (jiàn) is used in fixed phrases to mean “meeting up”, it can also be independently to mean “meet up” in the sense of have an encounter or have interaction with someone.

• 今天 晚上 我 去 见 朋友 。
• 我们 下 星期 见。
• 你 今天 去 见 她 吗？
• 我 和 朋友 明天 晚上 见面。
• 我们 在 咖啡馆 见面 吧。
• 他 今天 很 忙 ， 没 时间 见 你 了 。
• 十 年 没 见 他 ， 他 的 变化 很 大 。
• 今天 不 能 和 你 一起 去 吃饭 了，我 要 去 见 客户。
• 虽然 我们 俩 都 在 成都，但是 我 很 忙，没 时间 见 他。
• 那个 女孩儿 很 好，见 过 她 的 人 都 很 喜欢 她。

To say "to visit the doctor" use 看 (kàn)

Although this is a special use of 看 (kàn), it pretty easy to understand, if you have an appointment with the doctor or to need to pay a visit to the doctor because of sickness or an ailment use 看 (kàn).

Set Phrases

• 看 病
• 看 医生

Example Sentences

• 他 身体 有点 不舒服，他 明天 去 看 病 。
• 我 昨天 去 看 医生 了。

To say "to visit" someone use 看 (kàn)

If you want to describe a situation in which you visit someone, as in going on a vacation to see relatives or visiting someone in their home to catch up, etc. use 看 (kàn). These imply the purpose of the visit includes inquiries into someone else’s health and well-being.

Look above (specifically 见 (jiàn) used in the sense of “to meet someone”) and you can see that here 看 (kàn) and 见 (jiàn)’s use and example sentences are all very similar; just remember, using 看 (kàn) emphasizes a visit and includes a taking into consideration someone else’s health and well-being, and that in this context 看 (kàn) is not as commonly used as 见 (jiàn).

Common Phrases

• 去 看 你 qù kàn nǐ go visit you
• 看 家人

Example Sentences

• 我 暑假 去 看 家人。
• 我们 今天 去 南京 看 朋友。
• 明天 我 去 看 你。
• 我 听说 她 最近 不开心，我 想 去 看 她。
• 张老师 没有 来 我们 家 看 我们。

看见 (kànjiàn) means "to see"

In the word 看见 (kànjiàn), 看 (kàn) means "to look at," but is combined with the result complement 见 (jiàn), which is not the same as the verb 见, detailed above. 看见 (kànjiàn) means "to see." It is equivalent to the word 看到 (kàndào).

• 我 看见 了 一 只 猫。
• 不 好意思，我 没有 看见 你。
• 昨天 我 在 超市 看见 了 他，但是 他 没有 看见 我 。
• 你 能 看见 我 吗？

For more advanced uses of 看见 (kànjiàn) and 看到 (kàndào), be sure to check out their article on the Chinese Grammar Wiki.