How do you make present progressive in Mandarin?

[miara01]

I need to say I am taking a Chinese class.

Please write in pinyin,

thanks!!!

[WangYuHong]

How do you write the present progressive in English???

(I'm definitely not a grammar afficianado)

Anyway, I'll take the first stab at this (and then the pros can correct my limited knowledge)

"I'm taking a Chinese class"

I'd translate that as:

wo3 zai4 xue2 zhong1 wen2

我在学中文

or

wo3 xue2 zhe zhong1 wen2

我学着中文

(I've heard those two are equivalent, but I normally say the first one for "I'm x'ing something")

Literally, I think they translate to "I'm studying Chinese", and I'm not sure if it implies that you're physically nose-in-the-book studying (at that point in time), or whether you're taking Chinese classes or something (while you presently could be eating, or watching TV, or something...)

Anyway, I'm curious to hear other people's (more qualified) responses.

[Lu]

I wouldn't use 我学着中文, 者 is not used this way.

You can say 我在學中文 (I'm learning Chinese), or 我正在學中文 (I'm learning Chinese). That last one leans more to the 'am with my nose in a book right now'.

[creamyhorror]

I agree completely with Lu.

BTW, 我学着中文 is more like "while studying Chinese". For example, 我听着音乐学中文 = "While listening to music, I study Chinese". Sometimes 一边 is included: 我一边听(着)音乐，一边学中文。

[creamyhorror]

For the OP:

我在學中文。

wo3 zai4 xue2 zhong1 wen2

I am learning Chinese.

[WangYuHong]

Interesting, I never picked up on the usage of 者... guess that's why I never used it...

Thanks