---
title: "verb + 着 + verb + 着 in Chinese Grammar: While doing something (and then …), With Examples"
description: "verb + 着 + verb + 着: while doing something (and then …). V着V着: in the middle of doing something, another thing happens. 3 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/vzhe-vzhe"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# verb + 着 + verb + 着

While doing something (and then …)

V着V着: in the middle of doing something, another thing happens.

## In stories

**喝着喝着**，他就喝多了。

[大闹天宫 · Havoc in Heaven](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/havoc-in-heaven-journey-to-the-west-easy-chinese-7#library-word-275-279) HSK 3

爷爷说，**听着听着**就能睡着。

[爷爷的收音机 · Grandpa's radio](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/grandpas-radio#library-word-76-80) HSK 5

有一天，他坐着小船，沿着一条小河往上游走，**走着走着**，竟然忘了自己走了多远。

[桃花源记 · The Peach Blossom Spring, retold in modern Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/peach-blossom-spring-story#library-word-49-53) HSK 6

[Read 大闹天宫](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/havoc-in-heaven-journey-to-the-west-easy-chinese-7#library-word-275-279)

## More patterns

- [verb1 + 着 + verb2 (doing 2 while/by doing 1) do something while …; do it by …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-zhe-v)
- [place + verb + 着 + thing (there is …) there is … (somewhere)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/zhe-existential)
- [把 + object + verb do something to … (and it ends up changed)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/ba)
- [verb (+ 了) + duration (for how long) for … (how long … lasts)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/duration)
- [verb + 得 + complement says how something is done (how well, how much, with what result)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-de-c)
- […的时候 when …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/de-shihou)

## What does verb + 着 + verb + 着 mean in Chinese?

While doing something (and then …). V着V着: in the middle of doing something, another thing happens.

## How common is verb + 着 + verb + 着?

It comes up in 3 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.