人在做，天在看

Chinese

		man; person; people	(located) at; in; exist (located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing	to do; to make; to produce		day; sky; heaven	(located) at; in; exist (located) at; in; exist; (before verbs) immediately involved in; right in the middle of doing	to see; to look at; to look after to see; to look at; to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard; it depends; think
simp. and trad. (人在做，天在看)		人	在	做	，	天	在	看

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): rén zài zuò, tiān zài kàn

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄣˊ ㄗㄞˋ ㄗㄨㄛˋ , ㄊㄧㄢ ㄗㄞˋ ㄎㄢˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jan⁴ zoi⁶ zou⁶, tin¹ zoi⁶ hon³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: rén zài zuò, tiān zài kàn
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄣˊ ㄗㄞˋ ㄗㄨㄛˋ , ㄊㄧㄢ ㄗㄞˋ ㄎㄢˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: rén zài zuò, tian zài kàn
    • Wade–Giles: jên² tsai⁴ tso⁴, tʻien¹ tsai⁴ kʻan⁴
    • Yale: rén dzài dzwò-, tyān dzài kàn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ren tzay tzuoh, tian tzay kann
    • Palladius: жэнь цзай цзо, тянь цзай кань (žɛnʹ czaj czo, tjanʹ czaj kanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐən³⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡su̯ɔ⁵¹ tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡saɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ kʰän⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jan⁴ zoi⁶ zou⁶, tin¹ zoi⁶ hon³
    • Yale: yàhn joih jouh, tīn joih hon
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jan⁴ dzoi⁶ dzou⁶, tin¹ dzoi⁶ hon³
    • Guangdong Romanization: yen⁴ zoi⁶ zou⁶, tin¹ zoi⁶ hon³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐn²¹ t͡sɔːi̯²² t͡sou̯²² tʰiːn⁵⁵ t͡sɔːi̯²² hɔːn³³/

Proverb

人在做，天在看

1. the heavens are looking when humans act; be careful of how you act

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 人在做，天在看 (“the heavens are looking when humans act”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		人在做，天在看
Mandarin	Taiwan	人在做，天在看
Cantonese	Hong Kong	人在做，天在看
Southern Min	Xiamen	儂咧做，天咧看
	Quanzhou	儂咧做，天咧看
	Zhangzhou	儂咧做，天咧看
	Tainan	儂咧做，天咧看
	Singapore (Hokkien)	儂咧做，天咧看

See also

• 舉頭三尺有神明／举头三尺有神明 (jǔtóu sān chǐ yǒu shénmíng)