Present Continuous Tense ?
calkins
March 10, 2008 at 07:23 PM posted in General DiscussionCould someone explain the present continuous tense difference between 在 (zài) and 着 (zhe) in the following two sentences?
你在吃什么?
nǐ zài chī shénme?
What are you eating?
你吃着什么?
nǐ chī zhe shénme?
What are you eating?
Thank you...
auntie68
March 11, 2008 at 03:26 AM
foleadu, I agree with you. In this sample sentence:
明天这个时候，我正在上着课。
what is being stressed by the 正 is that "tomorrow at this [very] time, I shall [just, precisely] be attending class." It is slightly more emphatic, to my non-native ear.
foleadu
March 11, 2008 at 03:12 AM
I know another structure used for expressing present continuous is 正在。 I seem to recall it can be followed by 呢 as well：
你正在吃什么？
你正在吃什么呢？
Does anyone know if there's a difference with the simpler 你在吃什么? To my ears, the former sounds a bit more emphatic, like 'What are you eating RIGHT now?'
calkins
March 11, 2008 at 02:35 AM
Migraine? I thought that was from learning Chinese in general ;)
谢谢 !
auntie68
March 11, 2008 at 02:31 AM
But if you were saying "I am thanking you", it would be perfect, I think. Bravo!
auntie68
March 11, 2008 at 02:30 AM
Hi. It's no problem. I only hope that my bloated explanations don't give you a migraine or Chinese Phobia. Remember, I'm not a native speaker, only a heritage speaker (overseas Chinese brought up with English as the first language at home).
Just 谢谢! is fine. ;-) Because you aren't saying "I am thanking you"). Keep on at CPOD until you get a good explanation from them!
calkins
March 11, 2008 at 02:23 AM
Auntie68, as always, thanks for your great input!
我在谢着你 (can I say that?)
auntie68
March 11, 2008 at 02:09 AM
P/s: One tricky thing about 着 is that it comes between the verb and the "object" of that verb:
吃饭 becomes 吃着饭
喝酒 becomes 喝着酒
and so on. Hope that helps!
auntie68
March 11, 2008 at 02:01 AM
Morning calkins. The question you've asked is a very big one, you really need an explanation from CPOD.
It's a very subtle difference. I would describe it to the difference -- in an English sentence -- between the "laughing" in:
(i) He was laughing (在+verb+object);
and the "laughing" in
(ii) He ran away laughing (verb+着).
My simplest explanation is that 在 refers to the FACT that a continuous activity being done. Whereas 着 describes HOW some activity is being done (hence, not strictly speaking, not a "continuous tense"). For this reason, 着 is often used to relate two different activities to each other.
Hope CPOD comes in with a good answer for you! For what it's worth, here are the examples from my dictionary; hope the characters are not too difficult:
聊天 liao2tian1 = chatting; hanging out together
别 bie2 = "don't!"
着：
孩子们唱着跳着，高兴的很！
吃着喝着，很快两个小时就过去了。
他们聊着天，望了已经半夜了。
明天这个时候，我正在上着课。
两个人跳着舞说话。
大家喝着酒聊天。
别吃着饭看报。
桌子上放着很多书。
门关着呢，里边可能没有人。
他穿着一件蓝色的毛衣。
都半夜了， 屋子里的灯还亮着。
他开着门睡， 躺着看书，坐着看电视。
在：
同学们在上课。
外边还在下雨呢, 你别出去了。 (外边 wai4bian1 = outside)
孩子在睡觉，你们小声(xiao3sheng1)点儿。
有人在敲门(qiao1men2)，我去看看。
昨天晚上十点的时候我在电视。
Btw, it's possible to combine both, eg. 他在看着我... But don't worry about that yet!
foleadu
March 11, 2008 at 08:52 AMauntie, you bring up another point. Moving the 'continuous' around in time - future and past - doesn't seem to always require a 会/要/将 (to indicate future) or a 了 （for past). I think you can choose an appropriate time word/adverb and the futureness or pastness is given by context:
明天这个时候,我在开会. (future)
昨天这个时候,我在开会. (past)
我在开会. (now)
Translating from English, I always feel there's something missing as there is often a grammatical change in English to represent the future/past.
Auntie - your explanation of 在 vs 着 was really helpful. I've always wondered that myself. A while back, I asked for a QingWen on this very subject... Still looking forward to it! 我期待着听关于"在"于"着"的差别的QingWen课！