Aspect particle "zhe"

The particle 着 (zhe) is one way of indicating the continuous aspect in Mandarin Chinese (another common way is using the adverb 在 in front of verbs). You may have heard that the Chinese particle 着 added onto the end of verbs is similar to the use of -ing in English. This isn't particularly helpful, however, because the use of 着 in Chinese is not nearly so frequent, and is also largely idiomatic.

Basic Structure

Verb + 着

Examples

Some examples:

• 这 家 饭店 还 开 着 。
• 我们 站 着 说话 吧。
• 那 个 喝醉 的 人 不停 地 跳 着 舞。

着 for a continuous state

While it's true that the "full progressive pattern" can make use of 着, this is not a pattern you're going to want to use all the time. For example, if you want to say "I'm reading," you have these two choices:

• 我 在 看 书 。(This is the natural, easy way to say it.)
• 我 正 在 看 着 书 呢 。 (This seems a bit much, and isn't very natural.)

The first one is fine, but the second one is definitely odd, and unnecessarily wordy. So there's no need to intentionally construct such long unwieldy structures. For this kind of usage (which corresponds pretty closely to the "-ing" in English which we mentioned before), you're better off avoiding 着.

There are, however, other uses of 着 which are needed. When you're talking about "states" which don't involve any continuous action, or actually doing anything, you're going to want to use 着 instead of 在. Some examples:

着 Expressing an Ongoing State

Verb	Verb + 着	Explanation
开	开着	开 alone can mean "to open" or "to turn on." Adding 着 allows one to express that something "is open" or "is on.".
关	关着	关 alone can mean "to close" or "to turn off." Adding 着 allows one to express that something "is closed" or "is off."
带	带着	带 alone means "to carry." Adding 着 allows one to express that one "is carrying" or "has" something (on one's person).
坐	坐者	坐 alone means "to sit." Adding 着 allows one to express that someone "is sitting" ("在坐" is awkward, because it's not a real action).
躺	躺着	躺 alone means "to lie on one's back." Adding 着 allows one to express that someone "is lying down."

Now let's see these in action:

• 这 家 饭店 还 开 着 。 ("Being open" is a state, so using 着 is natural.)
• 这 家 饭店 还 在 开 。 ("Being open" is not an action, so don't use 在.)

• 都 这么 晚 了，那 家 饭店 肯定 关 着 。 ("Being closed" is a state, so using 着 is natural.)
• 都 这么 晚 了，那 家 饭店 肯定 在 关 。 ("Being closed" is not an action, so don't use 在.)

• 今天 我 带 着 护照。 ("Having your passport (on you)" is a state, so using 着 is natural.)
• 今天 我 带 在 带 护照 。 ("Having your passport (on you)" is not an action, so don't use 在.)

• 她 坐 着 吗 ？ ("Be sitting" is a state, so using 着 is natural.)
• 她 在 坐 吗 ？ ("Be sitting" is not an action (plus "在坐" is likely to be mistaken for the action "在做"), so don't use 在.)

• 躺 着 最 舒服 。 ("Lying here" is a state, so using 着 is natural.)
• 在 躺 最 舒服 。 ("Lying here" is not strictly an action, so don't use 在.)

着 for doing an action in a particular state

If you do an action while in a particular state, you can make use of this pattern:

Verb1 + 着 + Verb2

Note that the first verb (followed by 着) describes the state; the second verb is the action verb. In this case, the "-ing" translation can be useful.

• 站 着 吃饭 "standing + eat = eating while standing"
• 听 着 音乐健身 "listening to music + work out = listening to music while working out
• 哭 着 说话 "crying + speak = speaking while crying

Note: If you want to make a sentence where both verbs are action verbs (neither is truly a state), then you don't want this pattern, you want 一边⋯⋯，一边⋯⋯.

着 used idiomatically

• 这 家 饭店 还 开 着 。
• 我们 站 着 说话 吧。
• 那 个 喝醉 的 人 不停 地 跳 着 舞。

See also

• Expressing actions in progress (full form)
• Expressing States in Place with "zhe"

Sources and further reading

Books

• A Practical Chinese Grammar For Foreigners (外国人实用汉语语法) (pp. 414 - 423) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 89) →buy
• Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar (pp. 217 - 225) →buy

Websites

• About.com: Mandarin Chinese Aspect
• East Asia Student: Mandarin suffixes and prefixes