Expressing actions in progress

Structure
Subject + + Verb + Object
Subject + + Verb + Object
Note: (zi) and (zhngzi) can be used as auxiliary
verbs to express that an action is on-going or in progress.
This is often the equivalent of present continuous in
English, which is how we express that an activity is
happening now. You can use (zhngzi) to put a little
more emphasis on the action as in progress right now.
I am surfing the internet.

We're eating right now.

We are in class right now;
please wait a moment.
My mom is cooking right

now.
Expressing actions in progress (full form)
Note: 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
Subject + + Verb + + Object +
The most common variation is just the " + V" pattern that
you probably already learned long ago. Another common
variation is " + V" pattern.

All these sentences mean

"We are having a Chinese
lesson."

She is reading the

newspaper.
I am drinking beer.
They are singing.

Aspect particle "zhe"

Structure
Verb +
Note: The particle (zhe) is one way of indicating the
continuous aspect in Mandarin Chinese (another common
way is using the adverb in front of verbs). You may have
heard that the Chinese particle 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 in
Chinese is not nearly so frequent, and can also be quite
idiomatic.

You need to listen while I'm

reading this letter.
This restaurant is still open.
We talk while standing.
Don't read while lying down.

for a continuous state

Note: While it's true that the "full progressive pattern" can
make use of , 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:

(This is the natural, easy

way to say it.)
(This seems a bit much, and
isn't very natural.)

There are, however, other uses of 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 instead of . Some examples:

Expressing an Ongoing State

Verb +

Explanation
alone can mean "to open" or "to turn on."
Adding allows one to express that something
"is open" or "is on.".
alone can mean "to close" or "to turn off."
Adding allows one to express that something
"is closed" or "is off."
alone means "to carry." Adding allows one to
express that one "is carrying" or "has" something
(on one's person).
alone means "to sit." Adding allows one to
express that someone "is sitting" ("" is
awkward, because it's not a real action).
alone means "to lie on one's back." Adding
allows one to express that someone "is lying
down."

Examples

("Being off" is a state, so

using is natural.)
("Having your passport (on
you)" is a state, so using
is natural.)
("Be sitting" is a state, so
using is natural.)

("Lying here" is a state, so

using is natural.)

for doing an action in a particular state

Structure
Verb1 + + Verb2

Note: Note that the first verb (followed by ) describes the state; the
second verb is the action verb. In this case, the "-ing" translation can
be useful. If you do an action while in a particular state, you can make
use of this.

"standing + eat = eating while standing"

"listening to music + work out = listening to music
while working out
"crying + speak = speaking while crying

Used Idiomatically

Structure
Verb + +

Note: Certain verbs tend to take more frequently than others, and
exactly what the is doing might not be apparent at all. It's best to
think of these usages as colloquialisms. You can even think of them
as set phrases.
Verb +

Explanation

Example

"to listen to" (essentially the same

as )
"to hold" (essentially the same as
)
"to wait" (essentially the same as
)

There's also one colloquial usage of that's been chosen by at least

one textbook for special treatment, so we'll cover it here as well. This
pattern may look like that "doing an action in a particular state"
pattern already covered above, but in practice it doesn't really work
that way. It just means "[Verb] for fun" or "[Verb] as a joke."

I'm not very serious; I like to have

a lot of fun.
I don't understand English songs.
I just listen for fun.
Don't be mad. I was just joking.