What is the difference...

bodawei

@suansuanru

We need a bit more explanation! I understand that 在 and 正在 are inter-changeable in say 我们在吃饭，我们正在吃饭。How does 正在 (right now) operate as an adverb? And 在 doesn't? Keep in mind that many native English speakers have a poor grasp of grammar! :)

I can think of eating slowly, eating quickly, eating loudly etc, where slowly, quickly and loudly are the adverbs.

zhenlijiang

suansuanru is saying that 在 has many other uses/functions besides this "is ~ing" use--which doesn't really address Catherine's question.

I would reply to Catherine's question by saying that 正在 is really like just now, and 在 doesn't emphasize the "just now", it just expresses that what you're talking about is currently going on. For example:

我在看书。 I am reading.

我正在看那本小说。 (in response to mention of some specific novel) I'm reading that novel just now. / I happen to be reading that novel now.

With the 我们在吃饭。 / 我们正在吃饭。 example, the former is simply We are eating. The latter for some reason--likely in response to a question--is saying We're eating just now.

But as always, hoping to be corrected if I'm off here. And hopefully someone can come and help clarify what I'm failing to explain.

zhenlijiang

OK let me add to this already. If both are responses to questions:

我们在吃饭。

I would expect the question asked to have been 你们在干什么？

我们正在吃饭。

I would expect the question asked to have been 你们吃饭了吗？

suansuanru

hi,hehe.i think i didn't make my words clearly. What i really meant is just like what zhenglijiang said,"在 has many other uses/functions besides this "is ~ing" use".And now i find that my answer didn't help catherinem.

Both of them have the same meaning of "doing something right now" when say"Object+ 正在/在+verb".

and i like zhenlijiang's answer to this question :)

and i would like to add something else.

1. 在/正在 + verb

在can means "last"(持续). We can use 在 to indicate an action have been done for a time(I know this translation may be a mass,hehe). But we cannot use 正在 like this.

e.g.我一直在看书。I have been reading for a while(or a long time,the speaker didn't tell us).

we cannot say 我一直正在看书。在can means you are doing something for some time,but 正在you are doing something right now. So we can put the advs like 一直、总是before在,but not 正在。

2 在/正在 + verb negation

他在吃饭。

negation:他 不/没有 在吃饭。

他正在吃饭

negation:他 不是 正在吃饭。(thought the negation of 正在 is seldom used)

hi,bodawei and go_manly,don't know if i made my words clearly this time.

zhenlijiang

suansuanru 你总是乐于助人！　(^^)

catherinem

Actually yes I was testing our posting functionality (you are very aware of the problem we had last week with posts lacking replies not showing up in the conversations feed). Nonetheless I think it's an interesting question! :)