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Mythic Mandarin

The door is open: describing with 着

HSK 3 Unit 3: Home and daily life · Lesson 1 of 5 · About 18 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can describe how things are in a room with verb + 着, and say what people are doing as they wait, sit or lie.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 空调 mean?

    1. dirty
    2. (marks the passive: by)
    3. air conditioning
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, air conditioning.

    空调 (kōngtiáo) means air conditioning.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “finally, in the end”?

    1. 干净
    2. 钱包
    3. 最后
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 最后.

    “finally, in the end” is 最后 (zuìhòu).

New words

  • 着zhe(shows a continuing state)
  • 挂guàto hang
  • 墙qiángwall
  • 画huàpainting, picture, to draw
  • 沙发shāfāsofa
  • 躺tǎngto lie (down)

Verb + 着: a state that continues

着 (zhe) after a verb describes a state that lasts: the door is open, a picture is hanging, she is sitting. It paints a scene.

  • 门开着。

    Mén kāi zhe.

    The door is open.

  • 墙上挂着一张画。

    Qiáng shàng guà zhe yì zhāng huà.

    A painting is hanging on the wall.

  • 他在沙发上躺着。

    Tā zài shāfā shàng tǎng zhe.

    He's lying on the sofa.

Place + verb + 着 + thing says what is somewhere: 桌子上放着一本书, there's a book lying on the table.

  • 桌子上放着很多书。

    Zhuōzi shàng fàng zhe hěn duō shū.

    There are lots of books on the table.

  • Not: 墙上挂了一张画着。

    But: 墙上挂着一张画。 Qiáng shàng guà zhe yì zhāng huà.

    着 comes right after the verb.

在 + verb is an action in progress; verb + 着 is a state or a manner: 他笑着说, he said with a smile.

  • 她坐着看书。

    Tā zuò zhe kàn shū.

    She is sitting and reading.

Characters

  • 挂 = 手
  • 躺 = 身

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

Who's at home?

Mark comes home and calls Anna, who is out.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. How does Mark find the flat?

    1. dark and locked
    2. door open, lights on
    3. empty
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, door open, lights on.

    门开着，灯也亮着.

  2. Listening

    What is Xiaoyu doing?

    1. lying on the sofa looking at her phone
    2. cooking dinner in the kitchen
    3. sleeping in her room with the door open
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, lying on the sofa looking at her phone.

    她在沙发上躺着，看着手机.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 安娜

    你Nǐ到dào家jiā了le吗ma？家Jiā里lǐ怎么样zěnmeyàng？

    Are you home? How's it at home?

  2. 马克

    到Dào了le。门Mén开kāi着zhe，灯dēng也yě亮liàng着zhe。

    Yes. The door's open and the lights are on.

  3. 安娜

    小雨Xiǎoyǔ在zài家jiā吗ma？

    Is Xiaoyu home?

  4. 马克

    在Zài，她tā在zài沙发shāfā上shàng躺tǎng着zhe，看着kànzhe手机shǒujī。

    Yes, she's lying on the sofa looking at her phone.

  5. 安娜

    你Nǐ看见kànjiàn墙qiáng上shàng挂guà着zhe的de那nà张zhāng画huà了le吗ma？我Wǒ昨天zuótiān买mǎi的de。

    Did you see the painting on the wall? I bought it yesterday.

  6. 马克

    看见Kànjiàn了le，真zhēn漂亮piàoliang！

    Yes, it's beautiful!

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 你看见墙上挂着的那张画了吗？我昨天买的。

    Nǐ kànjiàn qiáng shàng guà zhe de nà zhāng huà le ma? Wǒ zuótiān mǎi de.

    Did you see the painting on the wall? I bought it yesterday.

  • 在，她在沙发上躺着，看着手机。

    Zài, tā zài shāfā shàng tǎng zhe, kànzhe shǒujī.

    Yes, she's lying on the sofa looking at her phone.

  • 到了。门开着，灯也亮着。

    Dào le. Mén kāi zhe, dēng yě liàng zhe.

    Yes. The door's open and the lights are on.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 着 mean?

    1. how is it, how about
    2. film, movie
    3. (shows a continuing state)
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, (shows a continuing state).

    着 (zhe) means (shows a continuing state).

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to hang”?

    1. 挂
    2. 被
    3. 着
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 挂.

    “to hang” is 挂 (guà).

  3. Word order

    Put the words in order: Is Xiaoyu home?

    • 在
    • 吗
    • 小雨
    • 家
    Show the answer

    小雨在家吗 Xiǎoyǔ zài jiā ma?

    Is Xiaoyu home?

    小雨在家吗？ The sentence comes from this lesson's text.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    画 huà

    1. to need
    2. painting, picture, to draw
    3. to listen
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, painting, picture, to draw.

    You heard 画 (huà): painting, picture, to draw.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 沙发 (sofa). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: shāfā

    沙发 is shāfā in pinyin.

  6. Grammar

    Which sentence means A painting is hanging on the wall?

    1. 墙上挂一张画着。
    2. 一张画挂墙上着。
    3. 墙上挂着一张画。
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 墙上挂着一张画。.

    墙上挂着一张画。 Place + verb + 着 + thing.

  7. Fill the gap

    Complete: The window is open.

    窗户开＿＿。

    1. 了
    2. 着
    3. 过
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 着.

    窗户开着: the window is (in the state of being) open.

  8. In context

    You want to say she is sitting and reading.

    1. 她看书坐着。
    2. 她坐着看书。
    3. 她着坐看书。
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 她坐着看书。.

    她坐着看书。: 她坐着看书: sitting while reading.

  9. Word order

    Put the words in order: He's lying on the sofa.

    • 他
    • 躺
    • 着
    • 上
    • 沙发
    • 在
    Show the answer

    他在沙发上躺着 Tā zài shāfā shàng tǎng zhe.

    He's lying on the sofa.

    他在沙发上躺着。 Verb + 着 for a lasting state.

Describe a room

Look around the room you are in and describe it out loud in five sentences with 着.

  1. What is on the walls: 墙上挂着…。
  2. What is on the table: 桌子上放着…。
  3. What a person is doing: …坐着 (or 躺着, 站着)。

Sentence frames

  • ＿＿上放着＿＿。

    ＿＿ shàng fàng zhe ＿＿.

    On the ... there is ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I use verb + 着 for a lasting state.
  • I can say place + verb + 着 + thing.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: Two things at once: 一边…一边