Really confused about tenses and use of participles,the conditional and subjunctive?
EmmaLouise1
March 29, 2010 at 11:09 AM posted in General DiscussionI've trying for aaaages to grasp the concepts of tenses in Chinese but I just honestly cannot understand at all >.< In European languages, I can get that fine. I mean, I've just completed making a verb/tense table in Spanish of (I think) all the possible tenses in Spanish (there's about 18 entries). I then tried to do the same for Chinese, using the same tense headings. I know what you're thinking, I was perhaps stupid trying to compare Chinese alongside a romance language :P So needless to say I've been totally stuck >.<
To help, I also used the sentences that xiaophil posted in his post The Final Grammar Result but I'm still finding things hard to grasp >.< From my understanding, what determines a tense is a particle in each sentence. So this is what I've got so far:
Present
- 我看
- I read
- No particle needed
- 我在看
- I am reading
- 在 indicates an action is ongoing at that time
- 我过看
- I have read
- 过 indicates the action has been experienced in the past
- 我看了
- I read ('red' not reed' - past)
- 了 indicates a completed action
chenierd
March 29, 2010 at 10:47 PM
会 and 要 are also often used to indicate a future event when the time isn't explicit.
trevorb
April 11, 2010 at 08:35 AM
as in 明天要下雨 ？
seems weird as I kinda translate 要as want and I soooo don't want rain tomorrow!
chenierd
March 29, 2010 at 09:28 PM
I think your example, “我过看” should be “我看过”. That sentence would indicate a past completed experince. Like the completion of a book.
RJ
March 29, 2010 at 08:59 PM
Claudia Ross also wrote the schaums outline on Chinese grammar which is a concise and readable summary of the way things work. Both books are great.
trevorb
April 11, 2010 at 08:34 AM
I have the Schaums book, it is one of my tattyiest books having been carried about with me for so long!
I know also have the Ross book and am finding that useful too, but less portable :-)
trevorb
March 29, 2010 at 08:21 PM
啊哟， Now you've gone and made me buy another book, I am going to need a new book shelf!
Anything that can help me get a handle on this bit is worth a shot! I'm currently working on the principle if I listen enough and read enough eventually it will penetrate even my thick skull :-)
EmmaLouise1
March 29, 2010 at 01:02 PM
Oh, I have that book already! I guess I should have read it a bit better... whoops I think I dismissed it a bit too quickly first reading, thinking it was too difficult :/ But I'll re-read it with new found eyes and definitely check out those chapters.
user76423
March 29, 2010 at 12:53 PM
You may buy
Ross/Ma: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar, ISBN 0-415-70010-8
The grammar is more around Situations and Functions"
Look into the "Contents"-Tab, interesting chapters are...
30 Talking About the Present
31 Talking About Habitual Actions
32 Talking About the Future
33 Indicating Completion and Talking About the Past
34 Talking About Change, New Situations, and Changing Situations
35 Talking About Duration and Frequency
EmmaLouise1
March 29, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Ah, thanks so much Hape! That makes more sense then what I was trying to look for ^_^ So I think I'll give up on my Chinese verb table and instead just learn the aspect markers.
user76423
March 29, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Forget about "tenses" in the Western sense. In Chinese verbs do not express tense.
Verbs are linked with an aspect marker to indicate completion, experience, continuation, etc.
With the exception of (正)在, all aspect markers are placed behind the verb.
了 = completed action
过/過 = past experience
(正)在 = an action in progress
着/著 = a continuous state resulting from an action
起来/起來 = an action/a state which has just started
下去 = an action which is to be continued
下来/下來 = an action which is gradually changing into non-action
To express future, you say 明天我......, etc.
hanana1408
April 11, 2010 at 07:28 AMahhhhhhhhhhh!! :D