Does anyone have a translation for this ? Thank you

does anyone have a translation for this ?
Thank you !

It looks like it means “What are you up to” or “What’s up”.

Literally it is like “What (什么) are you (你) busy(忙) with now(在)” but it is probably more of a greeting than a question.

It seems more often used with the 呢 at the end, like 你在忙什么呢, which makes it more casual and smooth.

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Thanks ! I understand now. So I imagine that 在 (zai) is the idea of “now and here” ?

My pleasure, and yes, 在 signifies “now and here”, but its original meaning is more like “be” and “exist”, I think.

As in 你在哪裡 (ni zai na li; Where are you), 在 clearly means “be”, and from it comes the connotation of “here” and “now”.

You can see it in action in words like 存在(cunzai, existence), 现在(xianzai, now), etc.

And on that note, the literal translation of 你在忙什么 should be “What (什么) are(在) you (你) busy(忙) with”, rather than how I did it in my previous post :slight_smile:

I like to think of 在 as more than location, more like state of being, when it comes to verbs and actions.

Typically you see it with physical location. This is really the main use.

你在哪里?ni3 zai4 na3 li3 Where are you?
在上边。zai4 shang4 bian5 On top.

But you will also see it used with verbs and phrases where you can think of it like “in the middle of doing something”.

我在吃饭。wo3 zai4 chi1 fan4 I’m eating (food).
你在干吗? ni3 zai4 gan1 ma5 What are you doing?

Also for future reference, Chinese also has another character to express being in the middle of an action 着 zhe5 (I put 5th, or light tone, because it’s usually put next to the more important verb so it tends to lose it’s own tone). You’ll see it eventually. Better to know that there will be more than one way to express the idea.