Mandarin · Chapter 7 · Lesson 5 · Grammar primer
Durative zhe
Grammar for HSK 2.
The short version
着 (zhe) holds a state, 在 (zài) catches the action
他在穿衣服 (tā zài chuān yī fu) is the act of getting dressed; 他穿着衣服 (tā chuān zhe yī fu) is the state of being dressed. 着 (zhe) freeze-frames the result of a quick action and reports that it still holds. Negate it with 没 (méi) and the 着 (zhe) usually drops: 门没开 (mén méi kāi), never 门不开着 (mén bù kāi zhe).
门开着。 Mén kāi zhe.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 24 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
Lesson 5 of 12 in this chapter