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In Chinese sentence, I know Place and Time complement needs to follow these orders:

(1) Subject + Time + Place + How + Do sth

(2) Time + Subject + Place + How + Do sth

I notice that Time Complement can omit 在, for example：

（在）下课之后，玛丽去足球场。

Besides, Place Complement always starts with 在：

在包里，他拿了一本书。

So, how can I know when to use and omit 在 in Place complement, Time Complement?

Jenny
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    I would say 下课后，玛丽去了足球场 / 下课后玛丽要去足球场. But never 下课后，玛丽去足球场. I would say 他从包里拿了一本书出来 but not 在包里，他拿了一本书 / 他在包里拿了一本书. 在包里 is used to describe 他 in this sentence which should be incorrect. – tsh Apr 03 '20 at 03:44

2 Answers2

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when to use and omit 在 in Place complement, Time Complement?

when a sentence need to let other person fully understand or the subject is important or in a sentence.

(在)包里，他拿了一本书。 在 can also omit.

It can express as 

他拿了一本(在)包里的书。

Place

我在家。

Here 在 is a important word to tell other information about where you are.

jack chiou
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在 is used to indicate the location or time that something happens. The operative word is "indicate"; it's used to provide explanations.

You can omit it when it serves the role of a preposition (e.g., with the meanings "in", "from", or "to"). However, you need to keep it when it's acting as the main verb (e.g., in "Where is the cat?" or "那隻貓在哪裡？").

Patrick Dark
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