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, and even has a special use to mean to see the doctor.

	见 (jiàn)	看 (kàn)
Meaning	to see someone, to meet up, to catch sight of	to watch, to read, to look at, to visit, to catch sight of
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 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 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).

Common 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 see someone use 见 (jiàn)

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

Common Phrases

• 见 朋友
• 见 老师
• 去 见 你 qù kàn nǐ go see you

Example Sentences

• 今天 晚上 我 会 去 见 朋友 。

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

Common 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
• 下次 见
• 好 久 不 见

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.

• 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 。
• 十 年 没 见 他 ， 他 的 变化 很 大 。
• 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 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 see 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。
• 我 听说 她 最近 不开心，我 想 去 看 她。
• 张老师来我们家 看 我们。

To say …… use 看见 (kànjiàn)

需要加英文解释

Common Phrases

• 没有 看见
• 看 不 见

Example Sentences

• 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？我 看 不 见 你。（视频的时候）
• 这里 人 太 多 了，我 什么 也 看 不 见。

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.