Word
他 看着 看着 书， 就 睡着 了。Tā kànzhe kànzhe shū, jiù shuìzháo le.
Meaning
As he was reading and reading, he fell asleep.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Tā kànzhe kànzhe shū, jiù shuìzháo le.
他tā
he
了le
perfective particle
Used after a verb. Marks that an action is completed.
看kàn
to read
Questions & Answers about Tā kànzhe kànzhe shū, jiù shuìzháo le.
What does 着 (zhe) mean in 看着看着书, and why is it repeated?
Here the first two 着 (zhe) are the aspect particle zhe, not the result zháo.
- 看着 (kànzhe) means “is/was reading”, focusing on an ongoing action or state.
- 看着看着书 is like saying “(He) was reading and reading the book…” or “while he was reading the book…”.
The reduplication 看着看着 has two effects:
- It emphasizes that the action continues for a while: reading along, continuing to read.
- It sets up a background action from which something else unexpectedly happens:
看着看着书，就…… → “while he was reading the book, (then) …”
So 看着看着书 = “as he read the book / while he kept reading the book”.
Why is the last 着 in 睡着了 pronounced zháo instead of zhe? Is it the same character?