Mandarin Chinese Grammar for Pimsleur Students/Past tense

Past tense

Particles/characters used

There are some specific particles, characters or combination of characters used to make sentence past tense:

• 了 - le
• 过 - gùo
• 是 ... 的 - shì ... de

了 le

了 is used either after the verb or after the sentence to make it past tense. According to Pimsleur tapes, 了 added directly after the verb is for telling a list of things you did in the past. For a simple statement that you did something, just add 了 after the sentence.

• 我吃午饭了
• 昨天我吃了早饭，吃了午饭，然后我吃晚饭了

过 gùo

过 is used to tell that you've had an experience and is added after the verb.

• 我去过北京
• 我来过这儿

是 ... 的 shì ... de

This is used to tell or ask something detailed about the past. 是 is added after the subject and 的 at the end of the sentence.

• 你是什么时候去北京的？
• 我是跟我的朋友一起看电影的