Question about the use of Zai4. New learner

[MikeG500]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to learning Mandarin and have only been studying for about a week now. But I study many hours a day. There was a lesson I was learning from ChinesePod where the conversation went "Are you studying Chinese?" "Yes, i'm studying Chinese at a University." So it was "Ni3 xei2 zhong1wen2 ma?" Then he replied "duı4, wo3 za4i da4xeu2 xue2xi2." Which literally meant yes. I at university studying. Using Zai4 for at. But I thought you had to also add Zai4 in front of study to make it studying? So why isn't it "duı4, wo3 zai4 da4xeu2 zai4 xue2xi2."? Anyone can explain to me just so I can really understand the concept of Zai4. Thanks! Hopefully this isn't to newbie for this forum.

Mike

[Angelina]

literally meant

The trick is, you shouldn't expect to copy patterns from language 1 into language 2.

Studying does not always equal to zai4+study. If you want to say: I am studying, you can say 我在学习, but it's not like you have to use 在 zai4+study every time you would say studying in English.

[Koxinga]

There's 在 (zai4) that means "located at". There's also 在 that's short for 正在 (zheng4 zai4), which means "in the process of". Which meaning 在 has in a given sentence depends on the context.

Check this.

[imron]

There's also 在 that's short for 正在 (zheng4 zai4)

Just a minor quibble, but it's not actually short for 正在. Although they both mean "in the process of" 正在 is for actions that are *currently* happening whereas 在 can be used for actions that are currently happening or for actions happening in the past. If anything, 正在 is a more specific version of 在.

[Koxinga]

I haven't thought of it that way. Thanks imron!

[MikeG500]

Angelina, thank you! That helped. I guess I was taking it too literal.

Koxinga: I know the two different meanings, I just didn't understand why it was only used once in the sentence. But thanks!