Present Continuous Tense ?

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!

auntie, 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！

Auntie68, as always, thanks for your great input! 我在谢着你 (can I say that?)

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!

But if you were saying "I am thanking you", it would be perfect, I think. Bravo!

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!

Yes yes...I was practicing the 在...着 structure. Fun.

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?'

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.

Good to know foleadu. This might make a good Qing Wen.

Migraine? I thought that was from learning Chinese in general ;) 谢谢 !