What does 在 mean in "你在吗"? I just saw the phrase &quot;你在吗&quot; for the first time on Discord, I asked how this was grammatically correct (it looks like an incomplete sentence) and they insisted that 在 means &quot;here&quot;. I don't agree with that at all, 在 is a coverb and not a single dictionary I've looked in (online or otherwise) lists that as a definition. I could understand if the sentence omits 这里 since it's redundant, I could also understand if the sentence was the equivalent of &quot;Are you in?&quot; in English, but I do not agree with &quot;在 means here&quot;
在 in 你在吗? means 'is present'
大考时你在这里吗? = Were you here during the final exam?
大考时你在那里吗? = Were you there during the final exam?
大考时你在(学校)吗? = Were you at the school during the final exam?
大考时你在吗? = Were you present during the final exam? (It doesn't mention where the final exam took place, so you can use 'were present' or 'were there')
Similarly:
他犯案时你在現場吗? = Were you at the scene when he committed the crime?
他犯案时你在吗? = Were you present/ there when he committed the crime?