Continuous action: 在、着、or 在。。着

dianema
 January 17, 2010, 01:05 PM posted in I Have a Question

The usage of 着 vs 在 has always confused me when it comes to making up my own sentences.  My impression is that 着 is often used as a background to another action:

 他拿着书信站起来。

or to just describe a "state"

他就在站着拿着刚来的书信。

What about：

他在写信。

It seems unnatural to say：他写着信。

What the difference between:

他看着我。

他在看我。

他在看着我。

Thanks!

Profile picture
zhenlijiang
 January 17, 2010, 08:51 PM

Hi dianema,

Here's a post with questions answered on how to express English tenses in Chinese including ~着 VS 在~.
It has a lot of good information, particularly the clarifications from Jiaojie 老师 that you'd want to watch out for.

Hope it covers everything you want to know.

Profile picture
dianema
 January 23, 2010, 02:10 PM

Hi zhenlijiang,

Thanks for the link.  It does help! And it's a great summary.

Profile picture
cqwuxioalong
 January 23, 2010, 10:51 PM

this questions is very very Difficulty。

（他看着我。

他在看我。

他在看着我。）is state  and have Similarly means；你，我，他，他们，它们，她们，它+“在”，Verb+“着”。

i want Learn English