The principle: a state that persists

着 attaches to a verb and says the resulting STATE continues. The action may have happened in an instant, but its effect lingers, and 着 holds that lingering state in view.

verb + 着

• 门开着。 (Mén kāi zhe.) - The door is open. (Someone opened it; it stays open.)
• 灯亮着。 (Dēng liàng zhe.) - The light is on. (It was switched on; it stays on.)
• 窗户关着。 (Chuāng hu guān zhe.) - The window is shut.
• 他穿着一件红衣服。 (Tā chuān zhe yí jiàn hóng yī fu.) - He's wearing a red shirt.
• 桌子上放着一本书。 (Zhuō zi shàng fàng zhe yì běn shū.) - There's a book lying on the table.

The key word is STATE. 开 (open) is over in a moment, but 开着 reports that the door is, right now, in the open condition. Think of 着 as a freeze-frame held on the result.

着 versus 在 / 正在: state continuing versus action in progress

This is the distinction to nail. Both describe something ongoing, but they describe different KINDS of ongoing.

• 在 / 正在 = an ACTION is unrolling. Something is actively happening, moment by moment.
• 着 = a STATE is persisting. Something is sitting in a condition that holds steady.
• 他在穿衣服。 (Tā zài chuān yī fu.) - He's getting dressed. (Action: the putting-on is happening.)
• 他穿着衣服。 (Tā chuān zhe yī fu.) - He's wearing clothes. (State: the wearing holds.)
• 他在开门。 (Tā zài kāi mén.) - He's opening the door. (Action: he is in the act.)
• 门开着。 (Mén kāi zhe.) - The door is open. (State: it stands open.)

The contrast is clearest with verbs that name a quick action with a lasting result: 穿 (put on / wear), 开 (open), 关 (close), 戴 (put on / wear, for hats and accessories), 挂 (hang). 在 catches the brief action; 着 holds the long state that follows.

Where do they overlap? With activity verbs that are themselves drawn-out, both can describe the same scene from slightly different angles, and they often appear together.

• 外面正下着雨。 (Wài miàn zhèng xià zhe yǔ.) - It's raining outside. (正 + 着 together: the raining is going on and the state holds.)
• 他在笑着。 - both the action (在) and the persisting state (着) of smiling can co-occur.

For 'it's raining', the everyday choice is 在下雨 (Zài xià yǔ), the action-in-progress form. 下着雨 on its own is more descriptive, the sort of thing you find in narration ('rain was falling') rather than a plain answer to 'what's the weather doing?'. When in doubt for a live action, use 在; reserve 着 for when you are describing a state or a backdrop.

V1着 V2: doing one thing while doing another

This is where 着 earns its keep in everyday speech. Put 着 on a first verb to turn it into the MANNER or accompanying state of a second verb. The first action is the backdrop; the second is the main event.

V1 + 着 + V2 = do V2 while in the state of V1 / do V2 by means of V1

• 站着说话 (zhàn zhe shuō huà) - speak while standing
• 笑着说 (xiào zhe shuō) - say with a smile
• 躺着看书 (tǎng zhe kàn shū) - read lying down
• 他拿着书走进来。 (Tā ná zhe shū zǒu jìn lái.) - He came in holding a book.
• 我们走着去吧。 (Wǒ men zǒu zhe qù ba.) - Let's go on foot. (Go in the state of walking.)
• 别躺着玩手机。 (Bié tǎng zhe wán shǒu jī.) - Don't lie there playing on your phone.

The first verb sets the posture, the tool, or the accompanying state; the second carries the real action. 拿着书 ('holding a book') is not the point of the sentence - 走进来 ('came in') is - but the holding colours how it happened. This is one of the most natural-sounding patterns you can master, and it instantly lifts your Chinese above the choppy one-clause-at-a-time stage.

着 in existential and descriptive sentences

着 is the workhorse of scene-setting. To say something exists somewhere in a particular arrangement, Mandarin uses the pattern place + verb + 着 + thing. This describes what is THERE and how it sits.

• 墙上挂着一幅画。 (Qiáng shàng guà zhe yì fú huà.) - A painting hangs on the wall.
• 门口站着两个人。 (Mén kǒu zhàn zhe liǎng ge rén.) - Two people are standing at the door.
• 桌子上摆着很多菜。 (Zhuō zi shàng bǎi zhe hěn duō cài.) - The table is laid with lots of dishes.
• 床上躺着一只猫。 (Chuáng shàng tǎng zhe yì zhī māo.) - A cat is lying on the bed.
• 外面停着一辆车。 (Wài miàn tíng zhe yí liàng chē.) - There's a car parked outside.

Notice the order: the LOCATION comes first as the topic, then the verb-着, then the thing, which is usually indefinite ('a painting', 'two people', 'a cat'). This is the natural way to paint a static scene in Chinese, and you will meet it constantly in descriptive writing and in spoken descriptions of rooms, streets and photographs.

Negation: 没 (not 不) and dropping 着

To say a state is NOT holding, use 没 (méi) before the verb, and in the negative the 着 typically drops away.

• 门没开。 (Mén méi kāi.) - The door isn't open.
• 灯没亮着。 (Dēng méi liàng zhe.) - The light isn't on. (着 may stay for the persisting-state reading, but is often dropped: 灯没亮.)
• 墙上没挂画。 (Qiáng shàng méi guà huà.) - There's no painting on the wall.

The crucial rule: do NOT use 不. ✗ 门不开着 is wrong as a description of the door's current state. (不开 on its own means 'won't open' or 'doesn't open', a different idea about refusal or habit, not a present state.) Because 着 reports an actual state of affairs, its negation is the reality-denying 没, exactly as with 了 and the resultative complements. If a state is not the case, you say it 没 happened or 没 holds.

Why 着 attaches a state, not a completion: 着 versus 了

It is worth pinning down the contrast with 了, because the two attach to verbs in similar positions but mean opposite things about time.

• 了 marks a CHANGE or COMPLETION - something happened, something is now done or different.
• 着 marks CONTINUATION - something is, and stays, in a condition.
• 门开了。 (Mén kāi le.) - The door opened / has opened. (Change: it went from shut to open.)
• 门开着。 (Mén kāi zhe.) - The door is open. (State: it stands open, no change reported.)
• 他穿了一件红衣服。 (Tā chuān le yí jiàn hóng yī fu.) - He put on a red shirt. (The act of putting on.)
• 他穿着一件红衣服。 (Tā chuān zhe yí jiàn hóng yī fu.) - He's wearing a red shirt. (The state of being dressed in it.)

了 reports the event; 着 reports the resulting state holding still. 门开了 tells you the door changed; 门开着 tells you the door simply is open right now. This is why 着 never carries the 'it's done' flavour of 了 - its whole job is to say the situation persists, unfinished and ongoing as a state. For the full behaviour of 了, 在/正在 and 过, see aspect markers.

Imperative softeners: 听着, 看着

着 also tags onto a few verbs in commands to mean 'keep doing this / stay in this state', which softens or steadies the instruction.

• 听着！ (Tīng zhe!) - Listen (and keep listening) / now hear this.
• 看着点儿。 (Kàn zhe diǎnr.) - Keep an eye out / watch yourself.
• 你等着。 (Nǐ děng zhe.) - You wait (here). (Sometimes a mild threat: 'you just wait'.)
• 拿着。 (Ná zhe.) - Here, hold this / take it.

The sense is 'stay in this state', 'keep this up'. It is gentler and more sustained than a bare command, because 着 stretches the action out into an ongoing condition rather than a single sharp order.

Worked examples

• 她戴着一副眼镜。 (Tā dài zhe yí fù yǎn jìng.) - She's wearing a pair of glasses.
• 他低着头，一句话也不说。 (Tā dī zhe tóu, yí jù huà yě bù shuō.) - He kept his head down and didn't say a word.
• 大家都坐着，没人站起来。 (Dà jiā dōu zuò zhe, méi rén zhàn qǐ lái.) - Everyone was sitting; nobody stood up.
• 锅里煮着汤。 (Guō lǐ zhǔ zhe tāng.) - There's soup cooking in the pot.
• 他开着车打电话，太危险了。 (Tā kāi zhe chē dǎ diàn huà, tài wēi xiǎn le.) - He was on the phone while driving, far too dangerous.
• 门口的灯整夜亮着。 (Mén kǒu de dēng zhěng yè liàng zhe.) - The light at the door stayed on all night.

Common mistakes

1. Using 着 for an action in progress. 'He's opening the door' is 他在开门, not 他开着门 (which is 'with the door open'). Use 在/正在 for the live action, 着 for the resulting state.
2. Negating with 不. ✗ 门不开着. A state that doesn't hold takes 没: 门没开.
3. Forcing 着 onto verbs with no lasting state. Quick, result-only verbs like 死 (die) or 来 (come) don't take 着. 着 needs an action whose effect can persist.
4. Confusing 开了 with 开着. 开了 = the door opened (change); 开着 = the door is open (state).
5. Reaching for 着 to translate every English '-ing'. English '-ing' covers both progressive action (use 在) and continuing state (use 着). Decide which one you mean first.

What to drill

1. Feel state versus action. 着 = stays in a condition; 在/正在 = action unrolling. 门开着 vs 他在开门.
2. Master V1着 V2. 站着说话, 笑着说, 拿着书走进来 - one state, then the main action.
3. Use the existential frame. 墙上挂着一幅画: place + verb着 + indefinite thing, to set a scene.
4. Negate with 没, drop the 着. 门没开, not 门不开着.
5. Keep 着 and 了 apart. 着 = state continues; 了 = change or completion.

For the rest of the aspect system - the completion and change-of-state 了, the action-in-progress 在/正在, and the experiential 过 - see aspect markers. For how 着 fits into Mandarin's broader word order, see the word-order page.