How do you form the past tense in Chinese with ‘le’?
I am learning Mandarin Chinese and am a bit confused about when it is necessary to use the particle ‘le’ to form the past tense and when it can be omitted. Also how do I know whether I should put it directly after the verb or at the end of the sentence?
what about when you can establish past tense from context for example when using a time phrase? I thought that in that instance ‘le’ is not necessary, especially if you are recounting an event with multiple verbs?
Hi, this is Jennifer from China. I’ve taught Chinese for almost 8 years. Regarding to your question, please see below.
when “了” was placed after a verb, it shows an action has finished. I’d love to provide some examples to help you understand it.
我看了一部电影 (Wǒ kànle yí bù diànyǐng) I watched a movie. “了” was placed after “看 watch,” so we use past tense “watched.”
我喝了一杯咖啡 (Wǒ hēle yì bēi kāfēi) I drank a cup of coffee. “了” was placed after “喝,” we use “drank.”
when “了” is placed at the end of a sentence, it indicates a certain change.
For example:
我以前不会说汉语，现在会说了。(Wǒ yǐqián búhuì shuō hànyǔ, xiànzài huì shuō le) I couldn’t speak Chinese in the past, but now I can.
When ”了” is placed at the end of the sentence, it shows that “I can speak Chinese now.”
春天来了。(Chūntiān lái le) Spring is coming.
It shows “winter is coming to an end, it’s spring now.”
Are you still got questions? Please feel free to contact me at Jennifer.zhu@echineselearning.com, and I’m always happy to hear from you.
By the way, I’d love to share a great site which provides all kinds of Chinese learning materials for language learners.
http://resources.echineselearning.com/general/?ecl=ptEEEEEEyh050401.
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