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This question keeps me awake at nights.

Please, don't suggest that I've made a mistake and mistook 在坐 for 在座. I know what 在座 is. I dont' care about it.

I need to know a logical reason why 在坐 is never used in chinese. If it were used, I would have translated it as taking a seat and 坐着 as being in a sitted state.

You know, just like other pairs work:

  • 在穿 - dressing vs 穿着 - wearing
  • 在摆 - arranging smth vs 摆着 - being in an arranged state ,
  • 在睡 - falling asleep vs 睡着- sleeping
  • 在挂 - hanging smth vs 挂着- being in a state of hanging

P.S. I've found a great site which allows one to search chinese text corpus for 在坐 occurances: http://bcc.blcu.edu.cn/zh/search/1/%E5%9C%A8%E5%9D%90

coobit
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  • Somewhat related: What does the zhe 着 after a verb do? – blackgreen Sep 14 '20 at 22:55
  • You'd better give an example in which 在坐 is wrong and 坐着 is not. – dan Sep 14 '20 at 23:55
  • I'd guess it's the same for 在住, 在放, and 在站 too, à la Special cases of "zai" following verbs. – Becky 李蓓 Sep 15 '20 at 01:41
  • @dan, 在坐 is a rare match in baidu search enginge, most natives I've asked said it's wrong to use 在坐 vs 坐着. Yes, there are some examples (rare) of 在坐 usage but it's never in the sence of "taking a seat" – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 07:28
  • @Becky李蓓, the link you gave explains different thing. IMO, has nothing to do with durative aspect which is being talked here. – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 07:30
  • @coobit Well, you can say 我在坐着呢. – dan Sep 15 '20 at 09:27
  • @dan Yep, that is the puzzle. Why 在坐 is possible almost exclusivly in a 在坐着 construct? Yet almost never occurs as a stand-alone 在坐 without 着 – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 09:32
  • @coobit 在 and 着 are different. 在 means 正在, 着 means "keeping in a state". I have explained it in the other answer. 在坐 or 正在坐 semantically means "you are doing the action of sitting", which is quite unlikely to be spoken because almost no circumstance need to clarify that. It sounds like the sitting would take some time to finish, but in practice it's a pretty quick process. – dan Sep 15 '20 at 09:47
  • 想了一下有点像英语里的及物动词和不及物动词的区别。他在打人，就不能说他在打着人。他坐着，就不能说他在坐。 – Zhang Sep 18 '20 at 02:08

5 Answers5

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[在 + v] = in the act of carrying out the action. e.g. 在穿衣服 (putting on clothes)

[v + 着] = the actions is in a continuous state. e.g. 穿着衣服 (wearing clothes/ the clothes is being worn currently)

More examples:

警察在打人 - the police is in the act of beating up someone

警察打着人 sounds strange because unlike 穿着衣服 (wearing clothes) which can be easily in a continuous state, (you can keep wearing the clothes while doing other activities.) 打着人(beating people) means the beating is in a continuous state. Generally, the verb in [v + 着] is a non-action verb, for example, 看，聽，想，吃，坐 ，站. While action verbs like 打，跑， 射 do not work with 着 easily

I need to know a logical reason why 在坐 is never used in chinese. If it were used, I would have translated it as taking a seat and 坐着 as being in a sitted state

在坐 sounds strange because 坐 is a static verb. 在 requires an active verb. 穿 can work with 在 and 着 because 穿 can be a static or active verb

Note: [V + 着 + V] is a different structure, meaning the two actions occur simultaneously, e.g. 警察笑着打人 (the police is beating up someone while laughing); 跑着射擊 (shooting while running)

Tang Ho
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  • dang, A question I was actually capable of answering. Save us the soup! – 小奥利奥 Sep 15 '20 at 00:31
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    @小奥利奥 Why don't you write an answer too? You might explain it better than I do – Tang Ho Sep 15 '20 at 00:44
  • @小奥利奥 A side: what's "save us the soup"? – dan Sep 15 '20 at 01:16
  • @dan Part of an expression I often see used in 武侠. I found this example from googling, "“常山阴大人,你终于出来了！不知道大人在里面,有什么收获呢？”潘平神情阴郁,立即走上前来。意思很明显,你狼王吃肉,总得让我们喝口汤水吧!" The full expression is typically "you can have the meat (good stuff) but you should leave us the soup (scraps) – 小奥利奥 Sep 15 '20 at 03:22
  • Like "Throw somebody a bone" – Wayne Cheah Sep 15 '20 at 03:38
  • @小奥利奥 I got a gist of it. In Chinese, we say 吃肉，喝汤, which expresses while you are in the better position you should also leave a room for others. But I don't really get what you meant in your original comment? Can you elaborate it a bit? I'm just interested to know it. Thanks. Is it a common English phrase? Now, I guess you were joking that you could answer it. – dan Sep 15 '20 at 03:46
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    @dan He jokingly complained I answered all the easy questions., not giving others the chances to answer them. – Tang Ho Sep 15 '20 at 03:50
  • @dan I was joking by being melodramatic – 小奥利奥 Sep 15 '20 at 04:03
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Tang Ho Sep 15 '20 at 07:53
  • @TangHo I suppose the terms "active verb", "static verb" are used in Chinese too. Maybe active verb is 主动动词; what is "static verb" in Chinese? – goPlayerJuggler Sep 16 '20 at 08:03
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Why 在坐 is wrong?

我在穿衣服 我穿著衣服

我在坐飛機 我坐著飛機

在坐 - 在一般使用上已經被擴大延伸，不再只是字面上「坐著」的意思而已，例如可用於表示在搭乘某種交通工具，而搭乘這些交通工具時，某種程度上就隱含坐著的意思。

如：

我在坐計程車 我在坐公車 我在坐捷運 我在坐船 我在坐火車

我坐著計程車 我坐著公車 我坐著捷運 我坐著船 我坐著火車

而單獨的在坐，就如同OP所說，通常就是指在座，例如：在坐的各位。

HungYu Chang
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  • Yes, I understand 我在坐飛機 could be translated "sitting in the plane" BUT why it 在坐飛機 is never used to convey boarding a plane? – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 07:23
  • is there any logical difference between 我坐著公車 and 我在坐公車 ? I mean, could we ask questions which will make those sentences different in their consequenses? – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 07:35
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    坐 in 坐著公車 is not 坐(sit) but 坐 (ride); both 坐(著)公車 and (在)坐公車 means 'riding bus') – Tang Ho Sep 22 '20 at 23:46
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在+v：the action is in progress; v+着：the aftermath/effect of an action is still there. The key is the action. Some verbs are without action: 是、有、喜欢、见、到...；definitely can not use either one. Some verbs are very short actions, may last only 1 or few seconds: 站、坐、...；they can't use 1st kind, only the 2nd. Please be very strict about this: 1. some verbs can be both, 坐 in "sit" can't, but in "take (transportation)" can. 2. verbs like 来、去 are not action verb, they are state verbs denoting purpose without action. They need other action verbs to reach the purpose: 走、跑、...etc. This group can use 2nd one only. Only the true action verbs can use both, and they literally deserve both: 他坐着看电视。 他正看着电视。

James Liu 刘老师
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    By the way, 他正在来的路上。is entirely different case. 正在 are tow different terms here 在 is the v. (what I like to call "key word") means "to be at/in a place/location...etc. and 正 is adv. means precisely. Nothing to do continuous/progress. I always teach my students the method of deduction to understand a sentence, especially long one. Take out words/phrases one by one till the sentence doesn't make sense any more, then, you got the basic structure for better understanding. In this case: 他在路上 is the answer. – James Liu 刘老师 Sep 16 '20 at 00:44
  • Ok, I've heard that verbs denoting state can't have 在 before them, but the 在挂，挂着 and 在写, 写着 are valid pairs? 挂 is pretty static (be in the state of hanging). I tought that 在 and 着 can somehow change the nature of the verb they modify, but it's not the case. :( Some verbs can't change their nature and the reasons for this stubbornes escape me. – coobit Sep 16 '20 at 07:10
  • 挂 is exactly the 2nd kind of action verb: the action takes just few seconds, impossible to catch the "progress", hence can's use 在. 写 on the other hand, is a continuous action. Also, all verbs can't be changed in the sense of nature and function, but can be further explained. That's why complements are so many. Very unique among all the languages that I know of. – James Liu 刘老师 Sep 16 '20 at 12:10
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is there any logical difference between 我坐著公車 and 我在坐公車

我在坐公車 and 我坐著公車 have pretty similar meanings.

To emphasize ON THE BUS/PLANE/....

Q: 你在哪？我在坐公車。(I am on the bus NOW)

Q: 你在幹嘛？ A:我在坐飛機。(I am on the air plane NOW) Q: 坐飛機去哪？(Where are you flying to?) A: 去美國。

To emphasize other actions rather than (or related to) THE BUS/PLANE/....

我坐著飛機，到世界各國旅行。 (travel around the world by air plane)

我坐著交通船，每天在家跟辦公室之間往來。

我坐著火車，到海邊散散心。

我在坐飛機 could be translated "sitting in the plane"

Literally, yes, it looks like "sitting on the plane". But that should be realized with "ON THE AIR PLANE" rather than SITTING on the plane.

If you wish to emphasize the action of sitting, you can say 我在飛機上坐著.

boarding a plane

We usually use 登機 or 上飛機. e.g. If you see "登機中" at boarding gate, it means passengers are allowed to board a plane. When you are already on the plane, you can say 我在飛機上 我在坐飛機 我上飛機了。

HungYu Chang
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  • What do you think this sentence 我在坐飛機，到世界各國旅行 means if some native told you: "No there is no mistake here."? or it's valid in any case? – coobit Sep 15 '20 at 08:56
  • @coobit If you say 我在坐飛機, it means you are on the plane 「NOW」. 我在坐飛機，到世界各國旅行 , it's odd but understandable. If you use 我坐著飛機 would be more accurate, because an air plane flight have specific destination (e.g. Tokyo). 到世界各國旅行 could be anywhere. 我在坐飛機，到世界各國旅行(I am flying to THE WORLD???) – HungYu Chang Sep 16 '20 at 00:13
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Seems like there is some correlation with so-called intransitives and the lack of 在坐。

You can't "arrive someone".
*I am arriving you.
*我在到你。
我到了。
我快到了。

You can't "go something".
*I go / am going London.
*我在去伦敦。
I am going to London.
我在去伦敦的路上。

You can't "lie something".
*I lie the bed.
*我躺床。
I am lying on the bed.
我躺在床上。
我在床上躺着。

You can't "sit something".
The children sit the lawn.
*孩子们在坐草坪。
The children sit on the lawn.
孩子们坐在草坪上。
孩子们在草坪上坐着。

Chinese often uses '在 ... 上', '在 ... 里' 等等。Maybe, when no noun is expected, our brains expect a '上' or '里', so Chinese won't use ‘在坐’。

There is no absolute mapping between Chinese and English:

I can't 'vote you'. But in Chinese I can ‘投票’。

Every single person voted.
每个人都投了票。
I am voting.
我在投票。

But 我在坐飞机/地铁/公交。is acceptable Chinese as far as the people I know are concerned, so 在坐 is possible. (it may be 乘坐 however, who knows what is left out!)

Pedroski
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