Chinese Grammar Core Course — Unit 10

Pletec LLC Editorial Team ·

Unit 10

Ongoing, continuing, and experienced actions

在/正在 show an action in progress, 着 highlights a continuing state, and 过 marks life experience. Choose the viewpoint before choosing a marker.

Do not translate tense word for word. Choose whether you mean a completed event, an action in progress, a continuing state, an experience, an ability, or a comparison.

Do not translate word by word. First identify the main verb, then attach time, place, negation, or aspect in the order shown by the pattern.

Pattern to hear

门开着。他学了两年。

Mén kāi zhe. Tā xué le liǎng nián.

Meaning in context: The door is open. He studied for two years.

How to use it

在/正在 show an action in progress, 着 highlights a continuing state, and 过 marks life experience. Choose the viewpoint before choosing a marker.

她正在打电话。门开着。我去过上海。

Tā zhèng zài dǎ diàn huà. Mén kāi zhe. Wǒ qù guo shàng hǎi.

Do not translate tense word for word. Choose whether you mean a completed event, an action in progress, a continuing state, an experience, an ability, or a comparison.

Do not translate word by word. First identify the main verb, then attach time, place, negation, or aspect in the order shown by the pattern.

Self-check

How to use it
Choose the viewpoint before the marker: completed event, current process, continuing state, experience, ability, or comparison.
Build it yourself
Retell yesterday, now, and a future plan with three different aspect or modal choices.
Self-check
Can you say why 不 and 没(有) are not interchangeable in your sentence?

Contrast and decision

For English speakers, the main adjustment is not basic SVO order but keeping time, place, aspect markers, and complements in their Chinese positions.

What to notice: Ongoing, continuing, and experienced actions

More examples to read aloud

  • 她穿着红裙子。 Tā chuān zhe hóng qún zi.
  • 我每天跑一次步。 Wǒ měi tiān pǎo yí cì bù.
  • 他等了我十分钟。 Tā děng le wǒ shí fēn zhōng.

Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.

Build it yourself

Make one sentence for what is happening, what remains, and what you have experienced.

各造一句表示进行、持续状态和经验。

Gè zào yí jù biǎo shì jìn xíng, chí xù zhuàng tài hé jīng yàn.

Check the answer only after you have said or written your version.

Self-check

Model and reason

在/正在 show an action in progress, 着 highlights a continuing state, and 过 marks life experience. Choose the viewpoint before choosing a marker.

我在做饭。灯亮着。我看过这本书。

Wǒ zài zuò fàn. Dēng liàng zhe. Wǒ kàn guo zhè běn shū.

Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.