HSK 2 · Particles

着 zhe “particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)” in Chinese

Traditional 著

What 着 means

  1. particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)
  2. aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state

How to say 着

  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own着zheneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

着 in a sentence

  1. 那个拿着花的女人是谁？

    Nà ge ná zhe huā de nǚrén shì shéi?

    Who is that woman holding the flowers?

    Sentence #811040 from Tatoeba

  2. 你为什么站着？

    Nǐ wèishénme zhàn zhe?

    Why are you standing?

    Sentence #14023305 from Tatoeba

  3. 这个椅子坐着真舒服。

    Zhè ge yǐzi zuò zhe zhēn shūfu.

    This chair is really comfortable to sit in.

    Sentence #4859536 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 着 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 着 (zhe) with each of its parts in a different colour
着zheaspect particle indicating action in progress
  • 羊sheep · yáng
  • 目eye · mù

How to write 着

着 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

着 (zhe) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 着 (zhe). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 着

Words with 着

着急zháojí · to worry接着jiēzhe · next随着suízhe · along with着凉zháoliáng · to catch a cold着火zháohuǒ · to catch fire着想zhuóxiǎng · to consider (the needs of)着重zhuózhòng · to emphasise着手zhuóshǒu · to set about沉着chénzhuó · calm and collected执着zhízhuó · persistent

More words: Particles & Connectors

到dào · to对duì · correct往wǎng · to go (in a direction)一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly啊a · ah把bǎ · pretransitive particle被bèi · by比较bǐjiào · compare

FAQs

着 (zhe) means “particle for an ongoing action or state (-ing)” or “aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it zhe: zhe with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 着 is written 著. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhe with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 着 from the suggestions. Typing zhe into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
着 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.