着 (zhe) · verb suffix marking ongoing state or continuing action

Meanings

1 verb suffix marking ongoing state or continuing action
2 sentence-final marker softening a request or emphasizing degree

Characters

着

zhe

ongoing-state aspect particle

Examples

HSK 2

门开着。

Mén kāi zhe.

The door is open.

HSK 2

他笑着说。

Tā xiào zhe shuō.

He said it with a smile.

HSK 2

外面下着雨。

Wàimiàn xià zhe yǔ.

It's raining outside.

Tips

grammar

Three aspect markers, three jobs: 着 marks an ongoing state (门开着 - the door is in the open state); 了 marks a completed change (门开了 - the door opened, change finished); 过 marks an experience in the past (门开过 - the door has been opened at some point). Pair 着 with a verb-as-backdrop in V1着V2 structures: 他笑着说 (he spoke while smiling - smiling is the backdrop for speaking).

mistakes

着 has four readings - pick by context. Toneless 着 is the aspect particle (this entry). The other three are separate words filed on their own pages: 着 ('to touch, to catch, fall asleep, hit the mark'), 着 ('to wear, to apply, to contact'), and 着 ('a move in chess, a trick'). The aspect-particle reading is by far the most common - over 90% of casual usage.

Components

radical

目 mù

eye

Bottom eye radical - the indexing component (Kangxi 109). 着 split off from 著 (manifest, to attach) in late imperial usage; the eye fits the sense of 'fixing attention on, having contact with'. From this kernel grew the four modern readings: zhe (ongoing-state particle), zháo (to touch/catch), zhuó (to wear/apply), zhāo (a chess move). Same radical family: 看 (look), 眼 (eye), 睛 (eyeball).

semantic

羊 yáng

sheep (graphic only)

Top-left looks like 羊 (sheep) but is the simplified residue of the original character 著, of which 着 is a folk variant. 著 had 艹 (grass) above 者; in cursive simplification the top stylised into a shape resembling sheep. Functions as a graphic placeholder, not a meaning contributor.