How to say “doing something now” in Chinese with 在 (zài)

Rule structure

在 (zài) and 正在 (zhèngzài) can be used as auxiliary verbs to express that an action is ongoing or in progress. This is often the equivalent of present continuous in English, which is how we express that an activity is happening now. You can use 正在 (zhèngzài)…呢 (ne) or 正在 (zhèngzài) instead of just 在 (zài) to put a little more emphasis on an action that is in progress right now.

Examples