Chinese word

接着

Pronunciation

Pinyinjiē zhe

Meaning

  • adverbthen

Example

他接着坐了下来。tā jiē zhe zuò le xià lái

Then he sat down.

Illustration for 接着 (then)

More examples

她听完解释，接着问了一个问题。tā tīng wán jiě shì jiē zhe wèn le yí gè wèn tí

She finished listening to the explanation and then asked a question.

Core concept

A chain of actions moves forward link by link.

Common phrases

  • 接着说jiē zhe shuō

    keep speaking

  • 接着做jiē zhe zuò

    keep doing

  • 接着问jiē zhe wèn

    ask afterward

Similar words

然后rán hòu: Introduces the next step in a sequence of events.
继续jì xù: Shows that the same action or state goes on.
之后zhī hòu: Refers to something happening after a particular time or event.

Definition in Chinese

主要用作副词，表示在时间或动作上紧接发生的下一件事，也可表示动作的继续。zhǔ yào yòng zuò fù cí biǎo shì zài shí jiān huò dòng zuò shàng jǐn jiē fā shēng de xià yí jiàn shì yě kě biǎo shì dòng zuò de jì xù

Word origin

The combination of 接 (jiē, "connect") and 着 (zhe, "in a continuing state") gives the word its sense of connecting one action with what follows.

Usage tips

  • In spoken Chinese, this adverb commonly comes before the verb for the next action, which makes the order of steps easy to hear.

Other meanings

  • afterwardadverb
  • in successionadverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word