Level 4 · Lesson 7

他正在看电视
He's watching TV

我正在看电视呢。他没在看电视，他在上网。

在 and 正在 before the verb put an action in progress, and 呢 closes the sentence gently.

听 · Listen

对话
 安娜 —  李明，你在做什么呢？ 
Li Ming, what are you doing?  
 李明 —  我正在看电视呢。你呢？ 
I'm watching TV. And you?  
 安娜 —  我在上网。你哥哥也在看电视吗？ 
I'm online. Is your older brother watching TV too?  
 李明 —  他没在看电视，他正在打电话呢。 
He isn't watching TV, he's on the phone.  
 安娜 —  你妈妈呢？ 
What about your mother?  
 李明 —  她在做饭，爸爸在休息。 
She's cooking, and my father is resting.  
 安娜 —  你家很热闹！ 
Your house is a busy place!  
 李明 —  现在我不看电视了，我去学习。 
I'm going to stop watching TV now and go study.  

讲解 · Explanation

我在看电视。我正在看电视呢。

Put 在 in front of the verb and the action is under way at the moment you speak: 我在看电视, 'I'm watching TV'. 正在 is the same thing with the spotlight turned up, because 正 means 'right at this point' — 正在看 is 'right in the middle of watching'. Many speakers close the sentence with 呢, which adds no meaning at all, only warmth and a soft edge. All three are good Chinese: 我看电视呢, 我在看电视, 我正在看电视呢.

他没在看电视，他在上网。

The negative is 没在 + verb. Use 没, never 不 — 不在 is the other 在, the verb of place, so 他不在家 means 'he isn't at home' and says nothing about what he is doing. Keep 在 away from 了 as well: an action still running has not finished, so 我在看了电视 is impossible. 在 shows you the middle of an event; 了 shows you the end of one.

我在打电话。我在上网。

打 is one of the busiest verbs in the language. Its core sense is 'hit', but it has spread across dozens of fixed pairs, and 打电话 'make a phone call' is the one you need first. The phone is the object, so the verb cannot stand alone: 我在打电话, never 我在打. 上网 is built the same way, 上 'get onto' plus 网 'net'. Learn each pair whole, as a single action.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
正在	right in the middle of (doing)	正在 + 动词 + 呢
打	to hit; to make (a call), to play (a ball game)	打电话, 打球
电话	telephone, phone call	一个电话
打电话	to make a phone call	动词 + 宾语, learned whole
上网	to go online	他在上网呢

练习 · Practice

他______看电视呢。 He's right in the middle of watching TV.

他______看电视，他在上网。 He isn't watching TV, he's online.

我正在打______呢。 I'm on the phone right now.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'I'm online right now.'

正在、打、电话、打电话、上网 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

你在做什么呢？我正在看书呢。他在打电话，没在上网。

Say aloud what you are doing at this exact second: 我正在…呢. Then pick two other people — in the room, on a screen, in your memory — and say for each one what they are doing and what they are not: 他在…, 他没在…. Keep the 呢 on the end. It is the small sound that makes the sentence speech rather than a textbook line.