烧着；得着

[murrayjames]

Is 着 in 烧着 and 得着 pronounced zhao2, or zhe5? Is either ok?

My dictionaries say zhao2 but my wife (a native Chinese speaker) says zhe5.

[xiaocai]

I think 着 in 烧着 can be both zhao2 and zhe whereas in 得着 is normally pronounced as zhao2. But I think it may be more helpful if you can give the full sentences.

[roddy]

It's going to depend on what you mean - 睡着 could be 'zhe', and mean sleeping, or it could be zhao and mean to fall asleep. Have a read through the dictionary entries for the various pronunciations.

[murrayjames]

Wow Roddy and xiaocai -- you just blew my mind... Up to this point I thought the pronunciation of 着 was determined by the verb it complimented. I didn't realize the different pronunciations of 着 had anything to do with meaning.

So 穿着 can be both chuan1zhuo2 (to put on) and chuan1zhe5 (to be wearing)? 烧着 can be both shao1zhao2 (to set fire) and shao1zhe5 (to be aflame)? Are all verbs that take 着 zhao2/zhuo2 like this? (They can also take 着 zhe5 indicating a progressive state?)

[xiaocai]

I think the pronunciation of 着 in these examples mainly depends on its function. It acts as a verbal component (i.e. as part of the compound verb) in chuan1zhou2 and shao1zhao2 and as a complement when read as zhe. It is hard to say if all verbs take zhao2/zhuo2 can take zhe. It seems to me that there is no obvious link between the usage of verbal 着 and complementary 着 in modern Chinese.

[roddy]

Ha, and that's when we weren't even TRYING to blow your mind. Imagine if we both teamed up and really tried to mess with your head. THEN you'd be in trouble . .

For stuff like 着, where there will be multiple dictionary entries and meanings, it's worth having a sit down and a read through if you're getting confused. Quite often there's an explanation in there somewhere.

[jbradfor]

And don't forget the two other meanings / pronunciations of 著: zhu4 and zhao1. And, to make it even more complex, according to MDBG the correct 简体字 form of the zhu4 meaning / pronunciation is 著, not 着, while in 繁体字 all five meanings / pronunciations have the same written form, 著.

[skylee]

And, to make it even more complex, according to MDBG the correct 简体字 form of the zhu4 meaning / pronunciation is 著, not 着, while in 繁体字 all five meanings / pronunciations have the same written form, 著.

Ah this is not completely true, not in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong they are two different words, at least officially. Let's take a look at this HK government website -

http://www.edbchines...stroke&jpC=lshk

http://www.edbchines...stroke&jpC=lshk

My understanding is that in Taiwan 着 is not used, and the two characters are combined. I guess because of the significance of Taiwanese influence in places where the traditional script is used, in HK there is a trend of following Taiwan's practice and more and more people simply don't use 着 (and it is not very easy to type 着) . The same applies to 裡 vs 裏 (in simplified it is 里). But some people, including me, do insist on separating them.

[jbradfor]

Interesting, thanks for that information. Also thanks for the link to that dictionary, have to add it to my 繁體字 references.

So murrayjames, how is your mind?