{"id":13957,"date":"2017-12-26T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=13957"},"modified":"2017-12-14T14:36:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T18:36:14","slug":"what-are-you-doing-in-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/what-are-you-doing-in-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Doing? in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When teaching English to my Chinese students, I find that it&#8217;s always a bit difficult for them to switch between the simple present and the simple present continuous tenses in English. That is, the different between saying &#8220;I go&#8221; and &#8220;I am going.&#8221; Thankfully, this really isn&#8217;t so tough in Chinese. In this post we&#8217;re going to take a look at talking about ongoing actions in Chinese and give you plenty of examples to start using it. Basically, we&#8217;ll learn how to answer the question &#8220;What are you doing?&#8221; in Chinese.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Chinese Pronouns<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_12475\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111.jpg\" aria-label=\"1 LuoYang And XiAn 111\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12475\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12475\"  alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-12475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u6211\u5728\u6253\u7535\u8bdd<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Before we dive into the grammar, let&#8217;s take a moment to review the Chinese pronouns:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><div class=\"threecol-one\">\u6211<br \/>\n\u4f60<br \/>\n\u4ed6<br \/>\n\u5979<br \/>\n\u5b83<br \/>\n\u6211\u4eec<br \/>\n\u4f60\u4eec<br \/>\n\u4ed6\u4eec<\/div><div class=\"threecol-one\">w\u01d2<br \/>\nn\u01d0<br \/>\nt\u0101<br \/>\nt\u0101<br \/>\nt\u0101<br \/>\nw\u01d2 men<br \/>\nn\u01d0 men<br \/>\nt\u0101 men<\/div> <div class=\"threecol-one last\">I\/me<br \/>\nyou<br \/>\nhe<br \/>\nshe<br \/>\nit<br \/>\nwe<br \/>\nyou<br \/>\nthey<br \/>\n<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">For some more practice, you can also review this video on Chinese pronouns and the verb &#8220;to be&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pronouns and the Verb &quot;To Be&quot; in Chinese\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0AKP6N_TI2M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s another great thing about learning Chinese &#8211; you don&#8217;t have to worry about conjugating the verb &#8220;to be&#8221; like you do in English. It&#8217;s just\u00a0\u662f (sh\u00ec) for everyone! We won&#8217;t be using that verb much in this post, but it&#8217;s important to know anyways!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">How to Ask a Question<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Here&#8217;s the basic formula for asking a question about ongoing actions:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">Subject + \u5728\uff0f\u6b63\u5728 + \u505a\uff0f\u5e72 + \u4ec0\u4e48?<br \/>\nSubject +z\u00e0i\/zh\u00e8ng z\u00e0i +zu\u00f2\/g\u00e0n +sh\u00e9n me<br \/>\nWhat is\/am\/are subject doing?<\/h3>\n<p>It may seem a little confusing at first, but it really is quite simple. You can choose either \u5728 or \u6b63\u5728, and then you can choose either \u505a or \u5e72. For example, here are two different ways to ask &#8220;What are you doing?&#8221;:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u4f60\u5728\u505a\u4ec0\u4e48?<br \/>\nn\u01d0 z\u00e0i zu\u00f2 sh\u00e9n me<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u4f60\u6b63\u5728\u5e72\u4ec0\u4e48?<br \/>\nn\u01d0 zh\u00e8ng z\u00e0i g\u00e0n sh\u00e9n me<\/h3>\n<p>They both mean exactly the same thing, so you can choose one or the other, alternate between the two &#8211; whatever works for you! See if you can practice now. What are the two ways you could ask &#8220;What is she doing?&#8221; Just follow the example above but change the pronoun and you&#8217;ve got it! Now let&#8217;s look at answering this question.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">How to Answer a Question<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_12384\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/3-DSC_0051.jpg\" aria-label=\"3 DSC 0051\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12384\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12384\"  alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"402\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/3-DSC_0051.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/3-DSC_0051.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/07\/3-DSC_0051-350x235.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-12384\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u4ed6\u6b63\u5728\u7761\u89c9<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Answering these types of questions is even easier than asking them. Just follow this simple format:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">Subject + \u5728\uff0f\u6b63\u5728 + Verb + Object<br \/>\nSubject + z\u00e0i\/zh\u00e8ng z\u00e0i + Verb + Object<\/h3>\n<p>Once again, you can use\u00a0\u5728 or \u6b63\u5728 in the answer. It doesn&#8217;t really matter, but typically you answer in the same format that the question was in. Here&#8217;s an example for you to see it in action:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u6211\u5728\u5b66\u4e60\u4e2d\u6587<br \/>\nw\u01d2 z\u00e0i xu\u00e9 x\u00ed zh\u014dng w\u00e9n<br \/>\nI am studying Chinese.<\/h3>\n<p>Whoa!\u00a0\u4f60\u5f88\u68d2! That means &#8220;You&#8217;re awesome!&#8221; and it&#8217;s true, because you&#8217;re learning Chinese with us. Isn&#8217;t it easier than you thought? Let&#8217;s learn some common activities that you might answer such a question with.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Daily Activities<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_13768\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/10\/August-2012-436.jpg\" aria-label=\"August 2012 436\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13768\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13768\"  alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/10\/August-2012-436.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/10\/August-2012-436.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/10\/August-2012-436-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u6211\u4eec\u5728\u5403\u996d<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a list of 20 daily activities that you should definitely memorize. Chances are one of these will be your answer to the question &#8220;What are you doing?&#8221;, as we spend most of our time doing these things!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><div class=\"threecol-one\">\u5403\u996d<br \/>\n\u5de5\u4f5c<br \/>\n\u5b66\u4e60<br \/>\n\u5f00\u4f1a<br \/>\n\u770b\u7535\u89c6<br \/>\n\u542c\u97f3\u4e50<br \/>\n\u505a\u8fd0\u52a8<br \/>\n\u73a9\u6e38\u620f<br \/>\n\u4e0a\u7f51<br \/>\n\u770b\u4e66<br \/>\n\u6253\u7535\u8bdd<br \/>\n\u9a91\u81ea\u884c\u8f66<br \/>\n\u8df3\u821e<br \/>\n\u5531\u6b4c<br \/>\n\u505a\u996d<br \/>\n\u770b\u7535\u5f71<br \/>\n\u6d17\u8863\u670d<br \/>\n\u4e70\u4e1c\u897f<br \/>\n\u505a\u4f5c\u4e1a<br \/>\n\u7761\u89c9<\/div> <div class=\"threecol-one\">ch\u012b f\u00e0n<br \/>\ng\u014dng zu\u00f2<br \/>\nxu\u00e9 x\u00ed<br \/>\nk\u0101i hu\u00ec<br \/>\nk\u00e0n di\u00e0n sh\u00ec<br \/>\nt\u012bng y\u012bn yu\u00e8<br \/>\nzu\u00f2 y\u00f9n d\u00f2ng<br \/>\nw\u00e1n y\u00f3u x\u00ec<br \/>\nsh\u00e0ng w\u01ceng<br \/>\nk\u00e0n sh\u016b<br \/>\nd\u01ce di\u00e0n hu\u00e0<br \/>\nq\u00ed z\u00ec x\u00edng ch\u0113<br \/>\nti\u00e0o w\u01d4<br \/>\nch\u00e0ng g\u0113<br \/>\nzu\u00f2 f\u00e0n<br \/>\nk\u00e0n di\u00e0n y\u01d0ng<br \/>\nx\u01d0 y\u012b f\u00fa<br \/>\nm\u01cei d\u014dng x\u012b<br \/>\nzu\u00f2 zuo y\u00e8<br \/>\nshu\u00ec ji\u00e0o<\/div> <div class=\"threecol-one last\">eat<br \/>\nwork<br \/>\nlearn\/study<br \/>\nhave a meeting<br \/>\nwatch TV<br \/>\nlisten to music<br \/>\ndo excercise<br \/>\nplay games<br \/>\nsurf the Internet<br \/>\nread a book<br \/>\nmake a phone call<br \/>\nride a bike<br \/>\ndance<br \/>\nsing<br \/>\ncook<br \/>\nwatch a movie<br \/>\nwash clothes<br \/>\nshop\/go shopping<br \/>\ndo homework<br \/>\nsleep<\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Examples and Practice<\/h2>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s put this all together! Here are a few more examples for you to study and then a practice activity for you to try at home:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u5979\u5728\u505a\u4ec0\u4e48\uff1f<br \/>\nt\u0101 z\u00e0i zu\u00f2 sh\u00e9n me<br \/>\nWhat is she doing?<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u5979\u5728\u542c\u97f3\u4e50<br \/>\nt\u0101 z\u00e0i t\u012bng y\u012bn yu\u00e8<br \/>\nShe is listening to music.<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u4f60\u4eec\u6b63\u5728\u5e72\u4ec0\u4e48?<br \/>\nn\u01d0 men zh\u00e8ng z\u00e0i g\u00e0n sh\u00e9n me<br \/>\nWhat are you doing?<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u6211\u4eec\u6b63\u5728\u5f00\u4f1a<br \/>\nw\u01d2 men zh\u00e8ng z\u00e0i k\u0101i hu\u00ec<br \/>\nWe are having a meeting.<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u4ed6\u4eec\u5728\u5e72\u4ec0\u4e48?<br \/>\nt\u0101 men z\u00e0i g\u00e0n sh\u00e9n me<br \/>\nWhat are they doing?<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">\u4ed6\u4eec\u5728\u5403\u996d<br \/>\nt\u0101 men z\u00e0i ch\u012b f\u00e0n<br \/>\nThey are eating.<\/h3>\n<p>Now it&#8217;s your turn! See if you can translate the following examples into Chinese for some practice:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">What are you doing?<br \/>\nI&#8217;m doing homework.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">What is he doing?<br \/>\nHe is riding a bicycle.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">What are they doing?<br \/>\nThey are playing a game.<\/h3>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure you can do it! We&#8217;ve got plenty of other resources to help you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transparent.com\/learn-mandarin-chinese\/\">learn Chinese<\/a>, such as a free word of the day delivered right to your inbox. Learning a language is never easy, but with persistence and the right attitude you&#8217;ll definitely see results. Plus, now is the perfect time to make studying a language your New Year&#8217;s Resolution!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"263\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111-350x263.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What Are You Doing? in Chinese\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/08\/1-LuoYang-and-XiAn-111.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>When teaching English to my Chinese students, I find that it&#8217;s always a bit difficult for them to switch between the simple present and the simple present continuous tenses in English. That is, the different between saying &#8220;I go&#8221; and &#8220;I am going.&#8221; Thankfully, this really isn&#8217;t so tough in Chinese. In this post we&#8217;re&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/what-are-you-doing-in-chinese\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":12475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[272723,411425,69375,13464,481655,481654,481652,481653,481651],"class_list":["post-13957","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-beginner-chinese","tag-beginner-chinese-grammar","tag-chinese-grammar","tag-easy-chinese","tag-learn-chinese-grammar","tag-ongoing-actions-in-chinese","tag-present-continuous-tense-in-chinese","tag-tenses-in-chinese","tag-what-are-you-doing-in-chinese"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13957"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13961,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13957\/revisions\/13961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}