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”. As well, both can mean to catch sight of something/someone. When used in these senses, they often can be used interchangeably, although the meaning is slightly different. Additionally, 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) also have distinct individual uses, as 见 (jiàn) can also mean to meet up with someone, while 看 (kàn) can also mean to watch, to read, or to look at.

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

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

This one is pretty clear, 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.

Common Phrases

• 看书
• 看电影
• 看手机
• 看医生
• 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。
• 下 个 星期 我 去 看 医生。
• 我 喜欢 旅游，因为 我 想 看 风景。
• 明天 我 没有 时间，我 要 去 看 我的 家人。
• 我 听说 她 最近 不开心，我 想 去 看 她。

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

Common Phrases

Meeting up with someone is often used in fixed phrases, often resembling the English pattern “see you tomorrow”, “see you soon”, “see you next year”, etc.

• 明天见
• 下次见
• 晚上见
• 一会儿见
• 明年见
• 好久不见

Example Sentences

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

• 我们 下 星期 见。
• 我 和 朋友 明天 晚上 见。
• 他 今天 非常 忙 ， 没 时间 见 你 了 。
• 虽然我们俩都在成都，但是我很忙，没时间 见 他。
• 十 年 没 见 他 ， 他 的 变化 很 大 。
• 那个 女孩儿 很 好，见 过 她 的 人 都 很 喜。

To say to catch sight of something/someone both 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) can be used interchangeably and have the same meaning

Think of something like this… you’re in a crowd, you can see your friends, but they can’t see you, or you see someone at the store from afar, but they don’t see you, even something like your friend finally sees you in a big crowd after you have been yelling their name repeatedly… In these situations, it’s fair to use “catch sight of” to describe what’s going on, and in such circumstances both 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) can be used interchangeably and mean the same thing.

Pattern

见/看 + 到 + (“something”, often not said) + 了 （most times)

Example Sentences

• 我 看 到了。
• 小李 见 到了。

Pattern

见/看 + 不到 + (“something”, often not said)

Example Sentences

• 小李 看 不到。
• 我 见 不到。

Pattern

见/看 + 到 + person + 了 （most times)

Example Sentences

• 昨天在买东西的时候，我们 看 到了校长。
• 小刘 见 到你了，你别喊他吧。

Pattern

见/看 + 不到 + person

Example Sentences

• 老王 看 不到我们。
• 你在用大声喊他的名字，他为什么 见 不到你？

看见 (kànjiàn) is a combination of 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) and is also used to say to catch sight of something/someone

Ok, now we know that both 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn) can be used interchangeably to mean “to catch sight of”, notably these two words can be combined into one word, 看见 kànjiàn, that has the same meaning.

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 go and 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 to 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

• 看 家人
• 看 朋友
• 看 老师
• 去 看 你 qù kàn nǐ go visit you

Example Sentences

• 我们要利用暑假去 看 家人。
• 我们今天去南京 看 朋友。
• 我去 看 你。
• 张老师来我们家 看 我们。

To say to meet someone use 见 (jiàn)

If you want to describe a situation in which you go and meet someone use 见 (jiàn).

Common Phrases

By glancing below at the bottom, specifically the use of 看 (kàn) in the sense to me “to visit”, you can see that here in this sense 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn)’s use is similar. Keep in mind that using 见 (jiàn) emphasizes to meet or to see someone else, and that in this context 见 (jiàn) is used more often than 看 (kàn).

• 见 家人
• 见 朋友
• 见 老师
• 去 见 你 qù kàn nǐ go meet with you

Example Sentences

• 今天 晚上 我 会 去 见 朋友 。
• 你要不要和我一起去见我的家人？
• 我还没有准备好，我不想去见你的父母。

To say to visit the doctor use 看 (kàn)

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)

Common Phrases

• 看 病
• 看 医生

Example Sentences

• 他爸爸身体有点不舒服，最好要去 看 病。

To say to meet someone use 见 (jiàn)

If you want to describe a situation in which you go and meet someone use 见 (jiàn).

Common Phrases

By glancing below at the bottom, specifically the use of 看 (kàn) in the sense to me “to visit”, you can see that here in this sense 见 (jiàn) and 看 (kàn)’s use is similar. Keep in mind that using 见 (jiàn) emphasizes to meet or to see someone else, and that in this context 见 (jiàn) is used more often than 看 (kàn).

• 见 家人
• 见 朋友
• 见 老师
• 去 见 你 qù kàn nǐ go meet with you

Example Sentences

• 今天 晚上 我 会 去 见 朋友 。
• 你要不要和我一起去见我的家人？
• 我还没有准备好，我不想去见你的父母。