Learn about the Chinese tenses
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Intro |
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| Michael: How many tenses are there in Chinese? |
| Dehua: And how do they work? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Sasha Lee is confused about the number of tenses in Chinese. She asks a teacher, Lin Li, |
| "How many tenses are there in Chinese?" |
| 李 萨莎: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| Dialogue |
| 李 萨莎: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| 李 琳: 中文里没有时态。 (Zhōngwén lǐ méiyǒu shí tài.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李 萨莎: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| Michael: "How many tenses are there in Chinese?" |
| 李 琳: 中文里没有时态。 (Zhōngwén lǐ méiyǒu shí tài.) |
| Michael: "There are no tenses in Chinese." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: When it comes to grammar, we always try to understand "tense," which in Chinese is... |
| Dehua: 时态 (shí tài). |
| Michael: However, unlike many other languages, Chinese does not have tenses, which means you do not change the form of a verb to indicate when a certain action happens. Instead, Chinese uses time phrases or certain words to talk about the present, |
| Dehua: 现在 (xiànzài) |
| Michael: past, |
| Dehua: 过去 (guòqù) |
| Michael: and future. |
| Dehua: 将来 (jiānglái) |
| Michael: Let's start with a simple sentence. "I live in China." |
| Dehua: 我住在中国。(Wǒ zhù zài Zhōngguó.) |
| Michael: It's about the present, the current status. If you want to stress that information, you can say |
| Dehua: 我现在住在中国。(Wǒ xiànzài zhù zài Zhōngguó.) |
| Michael: which means "I currently live in China." Just add a time phrase |
| Dehua: 现在 (xiànzài) |
| Michael: which means "currently, right now." |
| Michael: Now, let's talk about the past. How do we say "I lived in China"? |
| Dehua: 我以前住在中国。(Wǒ yǐqián zhù zài Zhōngguó.) |
| Michael: There is no change to the verb "to live," |
| Dehua: 住 (zhù). |
| Michael: Just add a word that indicates the time. In this sentence, we used |
| Dehua: 以前 (yǐqián), |
| Michael: which means "in the past, before, previously." |
| Michael: Notice that we often add these time words before the verb in the sentence. |
| Michael: For many action verbs in Chinese, we can add a particle behind the verb to indicate past tense. You've probably seen a lot of this particle, which is |
| Dehua: 了 (le). |
| Michael: There is no actual meaning in this word, and it can be used in so many ways. But, today, we'll just focus on its use to suggest that an action has been completed. Let's hear an example. |
| Dehua: 我吃了一个苹果。(Wǒ chīle yīgè píngguǒ.) |
| Michael: This sentence means "I ate an apple." The verb is |
| Dehua: 吃 (chī), |
| Michael: which means "to eat," and |
| Dehua: 吃了 (chīle) |
| Michael: means "ate" or "have eaten." In other words, the action has been completed. |
| Michael: Now, let's move on to the future. How would you say "I will eat an apple"? |
| Dehua: 我会吃一个苹果。(Wǒ huì chī yīgè píngguǒ.) |
| Michael: The word |
| Dehua: 会 (huì) |
| Michael: suggests that something will happen in the future. Another word you can use is |
| Dehua: 要 (yào). |
| Michael: For example, |
| Dehua: 明天要下雨。(Míngtiān yào xià yǔ.) |
| Michael: It means "Tomorrow it's going to rain." Also, the sentence uses the time word |
| Dehua: 明天 (míngtiān), |
| Michael: which means "tomorrow." |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "How many tenses are there in Chinese?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 中文里有多少个时态？ (Zhōngwén li yǒu duōshǎo gè shí tài?) |
| Michael: Now for our next sentence—Do you remember how to say "There are no tenses in Chinese?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 中文里没有时态。 (Zhōngwén lǐ méiyǒu shí tài.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 中文里没有时态。 (Zhōngwén lǐ méiyǒu shí tài.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 中文里没有时态。 (Zhōngwén lǐ méiyǒu shí tài.) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Can you figure out if the following sentence is talking about the past or the future? |
| Dehua: 要下雨了。(Yào xià yǔ le.) |
| Michael: The sentence has both |
| Dehua: 要 (yào) |
| Michael: which indicates the future, and |
| Dehua: 了 (le), |
| Michael: which seems to indicate the past. So, which one is it? This sentence means "It is about to rain." Not only can the word... |
| Dehua: 了 (le) |
| Michael: indicate that an action has been completed, it can also express that something is going to happen very soon. In fact, this word has even more uses than only these two, which you will learn in a future lesson. Once you master all of its usages, I believe your Chinese will be at a pretty high level! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (Zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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