For every language, correct understanding and usage of verbs are crucially important. Only if you can use verbs correctly can you express your mind accurately. Tense is the state of an action that a verb indicates. In English and other alphabetic languages, verbs have different forms to express their tenses, the change of the verb form is called inflexion.

 

But, Chinese is a kind of pictograph. So, its tenses are not expressed through changing the form of verbs themselves but through adding certain adverbs or depending on the context - so much, in fact, that the tenses in Chinese are a little vague; we can say there are only aspects of verbs but not explicit tenses in Chinese.

 

As for aspect, grammarians have varieties of arguments; they have not come to an agreement. What I advocate is that Chinese has two aspects of verb: progressive aspect and perfect aspect.

 

For example,

我看过那部电影。
I have seen that movie.

This is a sentence in perfect aspect.

The three sentences:
我看电影。
I watch movies.

我在看电影。
I am watching a movie.

我要看电影。
I will watch a movie.

are all sentences in progressive aspect.


The most commonly used indicators are 着 zhe, 了 le, and 过 guo, although they are not necessarily included in every Chinese sentence. 着 means something is going on, that is, progressive aspect, while 了 and 过 suggest perfect aspect. On the other hand, though the tenses are not very explicit just from observing the form of a verb, we can also come up with some typical ways, mostly by means of adverbs, to describe different tenses corresponding some of those in English.

 

Let’s look at some ways of expressing different tenses in Chinese:

 

Tense Marker Word Example Sentence English Translation  Note
Simple Present 经常、总是、通常、每……、etc.

1. 他经常去跳舞。


2. 我儿子拉小提琴。

1. He goes dancing very often.


2. My son plays the violin.

 Sometimes just original form of a verb with no markers 
Simple Past  ….了、……过、上个……、去年、……前、昨天、etc.

1. 我昨天病了。


2. 我上个月去了上海。

1. I was ill yesterday.


2. I went to Shanghai last month.

  
Simple Future  下(个)……、明天、明年、将……、要……、打算……、计划……、快……、etc.

1. 我下周六十岁。


2. 大卫将成为一名医生。

1. I will be ten years old next Saturday.


2. David will become a doctor.

  
Present Continuous  正…….、在……、正在……、…….着、etc.

 1. 你在骗我。


2. 学生思考着老师的问题。

 1. You are kidding me.


2. The students are thinking about the teacher’s question.

  
Past Continuous  正…….、在……、正在……、……着、etc.  昨天上午，我正在上课。  I was having class yesterday morning. Coordinating with an adverbial of a past time 
Future
Continuous		  正…….、在……、正在……、……着、etc.  明天晚上，我会在酒吧喝酒。  I will be drinking in the bar tomorrow evening.  Coordinating with an adverbial of a future time
Present Perfect  已经、从来、从未（没，不）、自从……就…..、 曾经、…….完、……过、到……为止 etc.

1. 我已经认识他两年了。


2. 我去过北京。 

 1. I have already known him for two years.


2. I have been to Beijing.

  
Past Perfect  已经、从来、从未（没，不）、自从……就……、 曾经、……完、……过、到……为止 etc.

1. 昨天他来看我，他以前从来没看过我。


2. 到上周五，我们学完了两课。 

1. He came to see me yesterday. He had never come to see me before.


2. By last Friday, we had learned two lessons. 

 Depending on the context 

 

According to the above examples, you have understood that Chinese people use a lot of adverbs and context to help to make clear what tense a verb is in. The tenses in the above form are just major tenses in Chinese; some other tenses are possible but not very often used.

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