amgaang ze

In the Middle of Doing: Amgaang Ze

Level 3

sinn + amgaang + ... + ze + infinitive = to be in the middle of doing something: Si ass amgaang, eng Zopp ze kachen.

How It Works

In Luxembourgish the present tense is enough for something happening right now: Ech iessen means "I eat" or "I am eating". When you want to stress that you are in the middle of something, use amgaang sinn with ze and an infinitive:

  • Ech sinn amgaang z'iessen. (I'm eating right now.)
  • Si ass amgaang, eng Zopp ze kachen. (She is busy making a soup.)

How to build it. Sinn is the conjugated verb in second place. Amgaang comes after it, then the details, and ze with the infinitive goes to the end. A separable verb takes ze in the middle: amgaang, d'Kichen opzeraumen. Words like grad (just) often come before amgaang: de Papp ass grad amgaang, sech d'Zänn ze wäschen.

In the past. Use war: Wéi s de ugeruff hues, war ech amgaang ze kachen. (When you called, I was cooking.) This is handy for saying what was going on when something else happened.

Spelling. Only one word is shortened: to eat is written z'iessen. Everywhere else ze stays in full. The official spelling also accepts amgaangen, am Gaang and am Gaangen. A short group of just ze and the verb has no comma (amgaang ze schaffen), and a longer group usually has one (amgaang, eng Zopp ze kachen).

Without ze. Amgaang sinn on its own means "to be going on": Et ass grad en Examen amgaang. (An exam is going on right now.)

Examples (6)

  1. Ech sinn amgaang z'iessen.

    I'm eating right now.

    Z'iessen is the one ze form written with an apostrophe.

  2. Si ass amgaang, eng Zopp ze kachen.

    She is busy making a soup.

    The object comes before ze kachen.

  3. Waart een Ament, de Papp ass grad amgaang, sech d'Zänn ze wäschen!

    Wait a moment, Dad is brushing his teeth right now!

    Grad adds "just now".

  4. Stéier hien net, en ass amgaang ze schaffen!

    Don't disturb him, he's working!

    A short ze group has no comma.

  5. Wéi s de ugeruff hues, war ech amgaang ze kachen.

    When you called, I was cooking.

    War amgaang describes what was going on at that moment.

  6. Et ass grad en Examen amgaang.

    An exam is going on right now.

    Without ze, amgaang sinn means to be in progress.

Common Mistakes

  • Using sinn with a bare infinitive to say I am eating right now.

    Ech sinn iessen.
    Ech sinn amgaang z'iessen.

    Sinn with a bare infinitive does not say that you are eating right now, because Luxembourgish has no tense like I am eating. Say Ech iessen, or use amgaang ... ze to stress that it is going on right now.

  • Putting the object after the infinitive.

    Si ass amgaang ze kachen eng Zopp.
    Si ass amgaang, eng Zopp ze kachen.

    Ze and the infinitive always come last, so eng Zopp goes before them.

  • Writing ze iessen in full.

    Ech sinn amgaang ze iessen.
    Ech sinn amgaang z'iessen.

    Ze normally stays in full, but iessen is the one fixed exception: z'iessen.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

amgaang zeLevel 3In the Middle of Doing: Amgaang Ze

Learn This First

Before In the Middle of Doing: Amgaang ze, learn The Infinitive With Ze and To Be: Sinn.

Words in This Pattern

amgaangze