The Progressive: 在該 and 在這

01

Built Out of a Place

在該 (diˇ gaiti kài) is literally at there: the preposition 在 (diˇti) followed by the demonstrative 該 (gaikài). An action under way is treated as an action one could point to, which is how a phrase about place comes to mark time instead. Recognising that makes the marker something to understand rather than something to memorise. Because both demonstratives work in the frame, 在這 (diˇ liaˊti liá) — at here — appears in the same slot with the same meaning, and choosing between them carries no difference in sense.

• 𠊎兜在這看書。

  ngai deuˋ diˇ liaˊ konˇ shuˋngài têu ti liá khon shû

  We are reading a book here.

• 𠊎兜在該食晝。

  ngai deuˋ diˇ gai shidˋ zhiuˇngài têu ti kài shi̍t chiu

  We are eating lunch.

02

當 for Emphasis

當 (dongˋtông) placed in front stresses that the action is happening at this very moment, with the force of English is just now doing. This is the second job of a word otherwise known as the ordinary word for very, and the two uses are told apart by what follows: an adjective, or a progressive.

• 計程車當在該等。

  gieˇ chang chaˋ dongˋ diˇ gai denˊkie chhàng chhâ tông ti kài tén

  The taxi is waiting right now.

• 該隻婦人家當在該牽狗散步。

  gai zhag fu+ ngin gaˋ dongˋ diˇ gai kienˋ gieuˊ sanˇ pu+kài chak fů ngìn kâ tông ti kài khiên kiéu san phů

  That woman is walking her dog right now.

• 這個男仔人摎細妹人當在該食東西。

  liaˊ gaiˇ nam er+ ngin lauˋ seˇ moiˇ ngin dongˋ diˇ gai shidˋ dungˋ siˋliá kai nàm e̊r ngìn lâu se moi ngìn tông ti kài shi̍t tûng sî

  This man and woman are eating right now.

03

Not for Habits

The marker states that an action is in progress, not that it is habitual. A sentence about what someone does regularly takes no marker at all — a bare verb is what expresses it — so the contrast English draws between he eats and he is eating is made by adding this marker or leaving it off.