着 (zhe) Particle - Confusing Uses

[Bird in a Forest]

Hello everyone,

 

I've recently been reading these articles: http://www.sunrisemethod.com/pages/48/The_use_of_the_particle_%E7%9D%80_36 and http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Aspect_particle_%22zhe%22.

 

It explains the uses of 着; however, even after reading the article, I still find myself confused at the uses of it sometimes.

 

I also get confused about what exactly constitutes "a state" and "an action". The Chinese Grammar Wiki states that 坐 isn't a real action, but why, and then what is?

 

For example, how is 着 being used in these examples?

 

He couldn't get his mind off the matter.

他 老 惦记 着 这 件 事 。

 

具体点说，这意味着他一文不名。Concretely, this meant that he was broke.

 

我们试着看到事情乐观的一面。We're trying to look on the bright side of things!

 

She loved clothes and wanted people to admire her.

她 爱好 穿着打扮 ，要人 赞美 她 。

 

(Does she like to dress up in a dressing manner? That doesn't really make sense to me).

 

It seems that 惦记, 意味 and 试 always take the 着 particle (from what I've seen), but I've been told that you can just put 试 in front of a verb to mean 'to try'. 

 

Are these uses of 着 simply idiomatic? Or is there some basis in the particles function? What's the method to the madness?

 

Thanks in advance

[anonymoose]

I also get confused about what exactly constitutes "a state" and "an action". The Chinese Grammar Wiki states that 坐 isn't a real action, but why, and then what is?

 

To take your example of 坐, you can "sit down" which is the action of lowering yourself from a standing position, and then "be sitting" which is the state resulting from the action.

 

So 坐下 means to "sit down" (which has a nice correspondence with the English in this situation, with the 下 and "down").

坐着 on the other hand means "(be) sitting", which is a state.

 

So you could conceivably make a sentence as follows: 他坐下了，然后坐着看书。 He sat down, and then read a book sitting.

 

For example, how is 着 being used in these examples?

 

He couldn't get his mind off the matter.

他 老 惦记 着 这 件 事 。

 

Note that the translations are idiomatic rather than literal translations. A more literal translation would be something like, "He always is thinking about this matter". Note that "is thinking" is a state, just like "is sitting" is a state.

 

具体点说，这意味着他一文不名。Concretely, this meant that he was broke.

 

The confusion arises here because in English we say "this means" (or "this meant") rather than "this is meaning", but if you think about it, this is also a state, in other words, the state of what "this means".

 

我们试着看到事情乐观的一面。We're trying to look on the bright side of things!

 

Here, 试着 means "be/are trying", which is the same structure as mentioned above.

 

She loved clothes and wanted people to admire her.

她 爱好 穿着打扮 ，要人 赞美 她 。

 

The 着 here is read zhúo. This is completely different from the other examples.

 

Are these uses of 着 simply idiomatic? Or is there some basis in the particles function? What's the method to the madness?

 

They are not idiomatic uses of 着. They are very typical and standard uses of 着. What may be confusing you is that you haven't completely understood the meanings of the words onto which 着 is attached. If you understand which words represent states, and which represent actions, then it should be clear that 着 is used with states.

 

Note that, however, some verbs can be states or actions. For example, 走路 could be a state (走着路 "is walking") or an action (走路了 "walked"), so which to use depends on what you want to express.

[Bird in a Forest]

Okay, thanks for the help .

 

So you can be in the state of 惦记 about something, just like you can be in a state of 试 something. Would using 试 by itself imply that you try to do something as a daily routine or have tried to do something in the past?

 

For the sentence below, would a more literal translation perhaps be, "we really thank you for still remembering us"?

 

It is sweet of you to have remembered us.

你 还 惦记 着 我们 , 真 感谢 你 .

[anonymoose]

Would using 试 by itself imply that you try to do something as a daily routine or have tried to do something in the past?

 

It depends on the context. 试 just means "try". Whether this is a continuous state or a one-off action depends on what else is in the sentence.

 

For the sentence below, would a more literal translation perhaps be, "we really thank you for still remembering us"?

 

It is sweet of you to have remembered us.

你 还 惦记 着 我们 , 真 感谢 你 .

 

Yes.