Sherry Travel with Her Bear

​​​​​As everyone already knows that we have present, past and future tense in English and some other languages;

however, it may surprise you that we don't have any particular word/ vocabulary for either past and future tense in Chinese.

Then, now you probably will ask How can we describe something happened in the past or thing we're going to do in the future.

In Chinese, instead of changing the verb into another form like we do in English and Italian for example. 

We ADD words/ vocabulary in the sentences.

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Present tense

English: I go to school.

Italian: Vado a scuola.

Chinese: 我去学校.

Past tense

English: I went to school.  

Italian: Sono andata a scuola.

Chinese: 我昨天去学校. or 我昨天去了学校

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okay, you might see how it works when you do past tense in Chinese up above.

In English, you can just change the verb into past tense then the sentence becomes past tense. 

Obviously, it's not necessary to put yesterday/ last week/ last Wednesday, etc... any other phrases refer to the past.

But, I supposed it may be a good thing to know that you don't have to struggle with the Chinese verb.

All that you have to do is to just ADD these phrases refer to the past in the sentences.

The phrases refer to the past we use a lot are: 

 Basic Grammar: 

Subject + Time Phrases + Verb + (了) + Object 

or

Time Phrases + Subject + Verb + (了) + Object 

Just remember, Don't put the time phrases at the end of the sentences!

sentences for example: 

1.) 

English: I drank orange juice yesterday.   

Italian: Ho bevuto il scuoco di arancia ieri. 

Chinese: 我昨天喝柳橙汁.  (Wǒ zuótiān hē liǔ chéngzhī )

             or  昨天我喝柳橙汁.

             or  我昨天喝了柳橙汁. ( Wǒ zuótiān hē le liǔ chéngzhī )

             or  昨天我喝了柳橙汁.

2.) 

English: I ate some bread last week.    

Italian: Ho mangiato del pane la settimana scorsa. 

Chinese: 我上星期吃一些面包.  ( Wǒ shàng xīngqí chī yīxiē miànbāo )

             or  上星期我吃一些面包. 

             or  我上星期吃了一些面包.  ( Wǒ shàng xīngqí chī le yīxiē miànbāo )

             or  上星期我吃了一些面包.

3.) 

English: He watched a movie this afternoon.    

Italian: Lui ha guardata un film questo pomerrigio. 

Chinese: 他今天下午看一个电影.  ( Tā jīntiān xiàwǔ kàn yīgè diànyǐng. )

             or  今天下午他看一个电影.

             or  他今天下午看了一个电影.  ( Tā jīntiān xiàwǔ kàn le yīgè diànyǐng. )

             or  今天下午他看了一个电影. 

4.) 

English: We went to his house last night.

Italian: Noi siamo andato la suo casa ieri sera.

Chinese: 我们昨天晚上去他的家.  (Wǒmen zuótiān Wǎnshàng qù tā de jiā )

             or  昨天晚上我们去他的家 .

             or  我们昨天晚上去了他的家.  (Wǒmen zuótiān Wǎnshàng qù le tā de jiā )

             or  昨天晚上我们去了他的家.

Practice for you:

please translate English into Chinese.

1. I drank a coffee this afternoon.

2. He ate some cookies yesterday.

3. They went to school this morning.

4. We went to Singapore last month.

Food/ Drinks/ Fruit/ Desserts in Chinese: http://sherrysherrylady.pixnet.net/blog/post/264371540-%E3%80%8Atalking-about-food-you-like-to-eat-%26-drink%E3%80%8B%E6%88%91%E5%96%9C%E6%AC%A2%E5%90%83

Country name in Chinese: http://sherrysherrylady.pixnet.net/blog/post/240257635-Introduction%20in%20Chinese/Mandarin

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE in Chinese:  http://sherrysherrylady.pixnet.net/blog/post/199709816-learn-chinese-mandarin-grammar-%28level-01%29-for-beginners%EF%BC%88en

Once again, We don't do Verb change for the past tense&future tense in Chinese, however, we ADD words in the sentences to make the tense changed.

Feel free to leave your question and do the practice down below, and I'll correct them.