Chinese tenses
I know Chinese don't uses tenses in the same way western laguages do. It just uses particles (like 了, 过...) as well as other words (like 在, 要, 会...) to express past, future, etc.

Can somebody list me, using a sample sentence, all the possible "tenses" in chinese, including afirmative and negative?

- Present

- Present continuous

- Past (了)

- Past (过)

- Future (要)

- Future (会)

Please also include a disyllabic separable verb as well as the place of some particles can vary in these cases (for example 开车, 做饭, 唱歌, 吸烟...)

Thank you

Question

Chinese tenses
I know Chinese don't uses tenses in the same way western laguages do. It just uses particles (like 了, 过...) as well as other words (like 在, 要, 会...) to express past, future, etc.

Can somebody list me, using a sample sentence, all the possible "tenses" in chinese, including afirmative and negative?

- Present

- Present continuous

- Past (了)

- Past (过)

- Future (要)

- Future (会)

Please also include a disyllabic separable verb as well as the place of some particles can vary in these cases (for example 开车, 做饭, 唱歌, 吸烟...)

Thank you

Answer

I would like to give you some examples to help you.
- Present
我吃饭.   I eat meals.

- Present continuous
我正在吃饭.  I am eating meals.

-Present Perfect
我现在已经吃完饭了.  I've already eaten up.

- Past (了)
我吃了饭(了).
** the second "了" might be modal particle.

- Past (过)
我吃过饭(了).   I ate (before).

- Future (要)
我要吃饭.

- Future (会)
我会去吃饭.
-Future(将/将要)
我将/将要吃饭.

Chinese doesn't have conjugations, normally we use some time adverbials to assist the "tense".Like these tenses below.

-Past continuous
他5分钟前正在打电话.
He was phoning 5 mins before.

-Past perfect
直到昨晚,他已经完成了所有任务.
Until last night, he had finished all the tasks.

-Past future 
I said I would arrange everything. 我说我来安排一切。
I knew you would agree. 我知道你会同意的

-Future continuous
明天的这个时候,我们正飞越在大西洋上空.
At this time tomorrow, we will be flying above the Atlantic Ocean.

-Future perfect
Hopefully after three years at university I will have matured. 希望3年大学生活之后我能变成熟。

Hope it helps. ^_^

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