Example sentences
wǒ我kàn看jiàn见tā他le了。
I saw him.
nǐ你kàn看jiàn见wǒ我de的yào钥shi匙ma吗？
Have you seen my keys?
About this word
看 is the act of looking, 见 is perception, the moment something registers. Side by side they make 看见, "look and perceive", which is how Chinese says "to see". 见 supplies the result, so 看见 means the looking succeeded, and it also covers things you saw without trying. The pattern is one of the most useful in the language: 听见 (hear), 看到 (spot), 找到 (find), 看完 (watch to the end). Negation splits along the same line. 我没看见 means "I did not see it"; 我不看 means "I am not looking, I refuse to look".
The story behind the character
看
A hand shielding your eyes from the sun so you can see further. That's the whole origin of 看. Hand on top, 目 (eye) below. Xu Shen wrote 看, 睎也. 睎 is gazing into the distance.
见
目 (eye) over 人 (person). A person with a wide-open eye. That's 见. Xu Shen wrote 见, 视也: "to see." The simplest compound there is, no trick to it.