Expressing actions in progress (full form)

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You may have learned that 在 (zài) and 正在 (zhèngzài) can be used before verbs to express that an action is ongoing or in progress. They are used to create the Mandarin equivalent of present continuous in English. But that pattern is actually a part of a longer, fuller pattern. It's rarely used in its full form, but bits and pieces of it are frequently used in everyday speech, so it's important to know the full form, even if you don't use it regularly yourself.

Structure

Subj. + 正在 / 正 / 在 + Verb + 呢

If it's a Separable verb, you need to put the 着 between the verb and the object, or you can just leave 着 out.

Subj. (+ 正) + Verb + 着 + Obj. + 呢

or

Subj. + Verb-Obj. + 呢

It's important to remember that virtually every part of the above pattern is optional, so you're going to see all sorts of variations of it (and rarely the full form). The most common variation is just the "在 + V" pattern that you probably already learned long ago. Another common variation is "正 + V" pattern.

Examples

  • 我 正在 吃饭 呢 。Wǒ zhèngzài chīfàn ne.
  • 我 吃 着 饭 呢 。Wǒ chī zhe fàn ne.
  • 我 吃饭 呢。Wǒ chīfàn ne.
  • 他 正在 打电话 呢 。Tā zhèngzài dǎ diànhuà ne.
  • 他 正 打 着 电话 呢 。Tā zhèng dǎ zhe diànhuà ne.
  • 他 打 电话 呢。Tā dǎ diànhuà ne.
  • 我们 正在上 汉语 课 呢 。Wǒmen zhèngzài shàng Hànyǔ kè ne.
  • 我们 上 着 汉语 课 呢 。Wǒmen shàng zhe Hànyǔ kè ne.
  • 我们 上 汉语 课 呢 。Wǒmen shàng Hànyǔ kè ne.
  • 爷爷 正在 看 报纸 呢 。Yéye zhèngzài kàn bàozhǐ ne.
  • 爷爷 正 看 着 报纸 呢 。Yéye zhèng kàn zhe bàozhǐ ne.
  • 爷爷 看 报纸 呢 。Yéye kàn bàozhǐ ne.
  • 老板 正在 开会 呢 。Lǎobǎn zhèngzài kāihuì ne.
  • 老板 正 开 着会 呢 。Lǎobǎn zhèng kāi zhe huì ne.
  • 老板 开会 呢 。Lǎobǎn kāihuì ne.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites



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