{"id":3133,"date":"2018-11-15T13:03:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T13:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2019-09-09T07:14:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T07:14:19","slug":"grammar-past-tense-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/grammar-past-tense-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 22. How to Express Past Tense in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Past
How to Express Past Tense in Chinese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is no verb conjugation in Chinese. The form Chinese verb is only one regardless the tense of the sentence. Let\u2019s say, the English \u2018go\u2019 can be conjugated as \u2018go-went-gone\u2019<\/a>. In Chinese, the three of \u2018go-went-gone\u2019 are all expressed in only one word, \u53bb (q\u00f9). Isn\u2019t that sounds good?<\/p>\n

So, how do we differentiate what is the time that the action has occurred? For today, let\u2019s learn how to express past tense in Chinese!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adverb of Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first and also the easiest way to talk about past events is using the adverb of time<\/em>. As long as you put the time in the sentence, then it is completely clear! Below are a few commonly used past time phrases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Traditional Chinese<\/strong><\/td>\nSimplified Chinese<\/strong><\/td>\nPin Yin<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e09\u5e74\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e09\u5e74\u524d<\/td>\ns\u0101n ni\u00e1n qi\u00e1n<\/td>\nthree years ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5169\u5e74\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e24\u5e74\u524d<\/td>\nli\u01ceng ni\u00e1n qi\u00e1n<\/td>\ntwo years ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u53bb\u5e74<\/td>\n\u53bb\u5e74<\/td>\nq\u00f9ni\u00e1n<\/td>\nlast year<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e09\u500b\u6708\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e09\u500b\u6708\u524d<\/td>\ns\u0101n g\u00e8 yu\u00e8 qi\u00e1n<\/td>\nthree months ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5169\u500b\u6708\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e24\u4e2a\u6708\u524d<\/td>\nli\u01ceng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8 qi\u00e1n<\/td>\ntwo months ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e0a\u500b\u6708<\/td>\n\u4e0a\u4e2a\u6708<\/td>\nsh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8<\/td>\nlast month<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e09\u500b\u661f\u671f\u524d\/\u4e09\u9031\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e09\u4e2a\u661f\u671f\u524d\/\u4e09\u5468\u524d<\/td>\ns\u0101n g\u00e8 x\u012bngq\u00ed qi\u00e1n\/s\u0101n zh\u014du qi\u00e1n<\/td>\nthree weeks ago \/ three weeks ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5169\u500b\u661f\u671f\u524d\/\u5169\u9031\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e24\u4e2a\u661f\u671f\u524d\/\u4e24\u5468\u524d<\/td>\nli\u01ceng g\u00e8 x\u012bngq\u00ed qi\u00e1n\/li\u01ceng zh\u014du qi\u00e1n<\/td>\ntwo weeks ago \/ two weeks ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e0a\u500b\u661f\u671f\/\u4e0a\u9031<\/td>\n\u4e0a\u4e2a\u661f\u671f\/\u4e0a\u5468<\/td>\nsh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 x\u012bngq\u00ed\/sh\u00e0ng zh\u014du<\/td>\nlast week\/last week<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4e09\u5929\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e09\u5929\u524d<\/td>\ns\u0101n ti\u0101n qi\u00e1n<\/td>\nthree days ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u5169\u5929\u524d<\/td>\n\u4e24\u5929\u524d<\/td>\nli\u01ceng ti\u0101n qi\u00e1n<\/td>\ntwo days ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u6628\u5929<\/td>\n\u6628\u5929<\/td>\nzu\u00f3ti\u0101n<\/td>\nyesterday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u6628\u665a<\/td>\n\u6628\u665a<\/td>\nzu\u00f3 w\u01cen<\/td>\nlast night<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u525b\u624d\/\u525b\u525b<\/td>\n\u521a\u624d\/\u521a\u521a<\/td>\ng\u0101ngc\u00e1i\/g\u0101ngg\u0101ng<\/td>\njust now<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u4ee5\u524d<\/td>\n\u4ee5\u524d<\/td>\ny\u01d0qi\u00e1n<\/td>\nbefore<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u904e\u53bb<\/td>\n\u8fc7\u53bb<\/td>\ngu\u00f2q\u00f9<\/td>\nin the past<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Examples:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

\u6211\u5011\u5169\u5e74\u524d\u642c\u904e\u5bb6\u3002<\/p>\n

\u6211\u4eec\u4e24\u5e74\u524d\u642c\u8fc7\u5bb6\u3002<\/p>\n

W\u01d2men li\u01ceng ni\u00e1n qi\u00e1n b\u0101ngu\u00f2 ji\u0101.<\/p>\n

We moved two years ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u6211\u6628\u5929\u5403\u4e86\u725b\u6392\u3002<\/p>\n

\u6211\u6628\u5929\u5403\u4e86\u725b\u6392\u3002<\/p>\n

W\u01d2 zu\u00f3ti\u0101n ch\u012ble ni\u00fap\u00e1i.<\/p>\n

I ate steak yesterday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u5979\u9ad4\u91cd\u6e1b\u4e86\u5f88\u591a\uff0c\u6bd4\u4ee5\u524d\u8f15\u4e86\u4e94\u516c\u65a4\u3002<\/p>\n

\u5979\u4f53\u91cd\u51cf\u4e86\u5f88\u591a\uff0c\u6bd4\u4ee5\u524d\u8f7b\u4e86\u4e94\u516c\u65a4\u3002<\/p>\n

T\u0101 t\u01d0zh\u00f2ng ji\u01cenle h\u011bndu\u014d, b\u01d0 y\u01d0qi\u00e1n q\u012bngle w\u01d4 g\u014dngj\u012bn.<\/p>\n

She lost a lot of weight and was five kilograms lighter than before.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aspect Particle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We can also add the aspect particle, such as \u4e86 (le) and \u904e [\u8fc7] (gu\u00f2) to indicate past events.\u4e86 (le) is used to indicate the completion of an action. In a similar way, \u904e [\u8fc7] (gu\u00f2) is used to show that something has happened before.<\/p>\n

The above three examples in adverb of time section contained the aspect particles in the sentence. In fact, the aspect articles can be also used with\/without the adverb of time. For the usage without the adverb of time, please see the followings:<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u53bb\u4e86\u7f85\u99ac\u5c3c\u4e9e\u3002<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u53bb\u4e86\u7f57\u9a6c\u5c3c\u4e9a\u3002<\/p>\n

T\u0101 q\u00f9le lu\u00f3m\u01cen\u00edy\u01ce.<\/p>\n

He went to Romania.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u6211\u559d\u4e86\u4e09\u676f\u679c\u6c41\u3002<\/p>\n

\u6211\u559d\u4e86\u4e09\u676f\u679c\u6c41\u3002<\/p>\n

W\u01d2 h\u0113le s\u0101n b\u0113i gu\u01d2zh\u012b.<\/p>\n

I drank three glasses of juice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u5011\u4e00\u8d77\u505a\u904e\u751f\u610f\u3002<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u4eec\u4e00\u8d77\u505a\u8fc7\u751f\u610f\u3002<\/p>\n

T\u0101men y\u012bq\u01d0 zu\u00f2gu\u00f2 sh\u0113ngy\u00ec.<\/p>\n

They had done business together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u5979\u770b\u904e\u4f60\u7684\u7167\u7247\u3002<\/p>\n

\u5979\u770b\u8fc7\u4f60\u7684\u7167\u7247\u3002<\/p>\n

T\u0101 k\u00e0ngu\u00f2 n\u01d0 de zh\u00e0opi\u00e0n.<\/p>\n

She had seen your photo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition, they \u4e86 (le) and \u904e [\u8fc7] (gu\u00f2) can also appear together in one sentence. Example:<\/p>\n

\u6211\u5403\u904e\u65e9\u9910\u4e86\u3002<\/p>\n

\u6211\u5403\u8fc7\u65e9\u9910\u4e86\u3002<\/p>\n

W\u01d2 ch\u012bgu\u00f2 z\u01ceoc\u0101nle.<\/p>\n

I had a breakfast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u5011\u5df2\u7d93\u898b\u904e\u9762\u4e86\u3002<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u4eec\u5df2\u7ecf\u89c1\u8fc7\u9762\u4e86\u3002<\/p>\n

T\u0101men y\u01d0j\u012bng ji\u00e0ngu\u00f2 mi\u00e0nle.<\/p>\n

They had already met.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s learn Chinese today! Join us at LingoCards<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no verb conjugation in Chinese. The form Chinese verb is only one regardless the tense of the sentence. Let\u2019s say, the English \u2018go\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[206],"class_list":["post-3133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chinese","tag-tenses","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3974,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions\/3974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}