How to say that you saw something with a verb?


I know how to say "I saw a cat" 「猫を見た」. However once a verb get's involved I'm
not so sure anymore. I have two ideas on how to say it. The sentences is
suppose to read "I saw someone being in that house over there".

> あの家に誰かいると見た
>
> あの家に誰かいることを見た

I don't know if either of those sounds any good. How would you report seeing
something that involves a verb? Rephrasing it without the verb is not allowed
unless you have a way to do it with all verbs and nouns. Also if there exist a
nuanced way of saying it that implies that what is being seen is still
ongoing, please share that as well. Like I saw a person there and he is still
there.




Maybe you could say...

  * あの家に｛誰かが/誰か｝いる **の** を見た。 

or maybe:

  * あの家に｛誰かが/誰か｝いる **ところ** を見た。

> 「XXがYYするのを見る」「XXがYYするところを見る」 "see XX do YY"  
>  「XXがYYしているのを見る」「XXがYYしているところを見る」 "see XX doing YY"

Examples:

  * 山田さんが道を｛渡るのを/渡るところを｝見た。  
I saw Yamada-san cross the road.

  * 山田さんが道を｛渡っているのを/渡っているところを｝見た。  
I saw Yamada-san crossing the road.

  * (私は)佐藤くんが鈴木さんのコーヒーを飲むのを見ました。  
I saw Sato-kun drink Suzuki-san's coffee.

  * (私は)佐藤くんが鈴木さんのコーヒーを飲んでいるのを見ました。  
I saw Sato-kun drinking Suzuki-san's coffee.

* * *

As for your first sentence:

> あの家に誰かいる **と** 見た

"Sentence + quotative と + 見る" has a different meaning than "to see
something/someone do(ing) ~~". 明鏡国語辞典 says:

> 見る  
>  ⓫《「〜と見る」の形で、文を・・・受けて》周りの状況にてらして、ある判断を下す。「社長は今が規模拡張のチャンスだと見ている」

見る in "～～と見る" doesn't mean "to physically see something with your eyes", but
"to judge", "presume", or "regard". For example:

  * 我々は、遭難者のほとんどが死んだ **と見て** 、捜索を打ち切った。  
We presumed that most of the victims were dead and gave up the search.

  * 私は、この仕事には彼が適任 **と見て** いる。  
I regard him to be the right person for this job.

As for your second sentence:

> あの家に誰かいることを見た

It doesn't really sound natural to me, I'm afraid.




"I saw someone being in that house over there" is expressed as あの家に誰かいる **の**
を見た.

あの家に誰かいると見た means that you have assumed that someone is in the house by
observing the situation.

あの家に誰かいることを見た means that you considered a precondition that someone would be
in the house. e.g. あの家にだれかいることを見て夕方に行くことにした: Considering someone would be in
the house (then), I decided to go there evening.

