Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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还 (2) — Still, and Not Yet
语气副词「还」（二）— 还在……、还没……
他还在睡觉, 他们还在上课, 他还没下班: 还 before the verb means still going on; 还没 means not yet. The two halves of every 'where is he?'.
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Memory hook
还在 + V = still doing · 还没 + V = not yet
Still, and not yet
Four from the deck, then the family questions. Hear the pair: 还在 for the ongoing, 还没 for the unfinished.
Tap any line to hear it
Still or not yet?还在，还是还没？
No pressure — just making it stick.
十二点了，他____睡觉。
Shí'èrdiǎn le, tā ____ Shuìjiào.
It's twelve and he's still sleeping.
It's six and he is still at his desk. Which reply is right?
They're still in class.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
你吃饭了吗？——我还没____。
Nǐ chīfàn le ma? — Wǒ hái méi ____.
Have you eaten? — Not yet.
Your turn — say it
他还没吃饭。
He hasn't eaten yet.
商店____开门，我们等一下吧。
Shāngdiàn ____ Kāimén, wǒmen děng yíxià ba.
The shop hasn't opened yet — let's wait a bit.
Fill each line with the right piece from the bank.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Mid-evening at home, in pictures看图说傍晚
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four things a family is still doing or has not done yet. Match each picture, then say 还在…… or 还没……
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
他还在睡觉。
He's still sleeping.
I'm still working — you eat first.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
我还没结婚。
I'm not married yet.
This lesson's characters
Three from the evening: the 没 of not-yet, the 觉 of sleep, and the shop that has not opened.
not (have); to sink
会two ideas joined
Water 氵 and a hand reaching in 殳: something has gone under — to sink, to disappear. What has sunk is not there, so 没 became 'not have, did not': 没有, 没吃, 还没下班. Read mò it still means to sink — 沉没. Every 'not yet' in Chinese has a small drowning inside it.
to sleep (jiào); to feel (jué)
会two ideas joined
The top of 学 — learning — over 见, to see: to perceive, to become aware. Read jué it is feeling and awareness — 觉得, to think or feel. Read jiào it is sleep: 睡觉, the awareness you switch off at night. One character for the two things a day is made of. 他还在睡觉 — he is still switched off.
commerce, trade
形meaning + sound
商 was first the name of a dynasty — the Shang, whose people were famous traders — and their name became the word for trade itself. 商店 is a shop, 商场 a mall, 商人 a merchant. 商店还没开门 is the sentence for every 9 a.m. in China, where shops open late and close late.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Describe your home right now with the pair: who 还在 doing what, who 还没 done what. It is a snapshot in six words.
- Practise the door-keeper answer until it is a reflex: 还没。还没结婚。还没想好。 It will save you at a hundred dinners.
- Two 还s now: 还好 lowers the temperature, 还在 stretches the time. Same character, both about not being finished.