The 5 Major Tenses

If you have ever learned Spanish or French, you have probably encountered what I call the, "Oh my god, conjugations suck, why are the so many, just kill me" problem.

Guess what? There are no conjugations in Mandarin and essentially only 5 core tenses we need to learn.  The best part?  These tenses are indicated by the presence of other words (some of which we know), not by conjugations.

The tenses and their indications are:

1. Simple tense: verb

2. Future tense: huì + verb

3. Active tense: zài + verb

4. Change/completion tense: verb + le

5. Experienced tense: verb + guò

Below we will give you one positive example, and one negative example for each tense type.

1. Simple tense: verb

This tense is best used for making very simple sentences or generalizations. Something like, "I study Chinese" doesn't tell me anything about when or how, or what you are currently doing now.

I learn Chinese. - Wǒ xué zhōngwén.

I don't learn Chinese. - Wǒ bù xué zhōngwén.

If I asked you, “What do you want to do today?”

and you said “Wǒ xué zhōngwén”

I would be confused... hahaha

We usually use this tense with a helping verb:

Nǐ xǐhuān zuò shénme? - You like to do what?

Wǒ xǐhuān xué zhōngwén. - I like to learn Chinese.

2. Future: huì + verb

I will go to library tomorrow. - Wǒ  míngtiān huì qù túshūguǎn.

I will not go to library tomorrow. - Wǒ míngtiān bù huì qù túshūguǎn.

When using huì, if we have a specific time word that indicates “in the future, then we don’t have to put huì. This sentence still makes sense: “Wǒ míngtiān qù túshūguǎn". Huì is to emphasize WILL do something.

3. Action in progress: zài + verb

What were you doing yesterday afternoon? - Nǐ zuótiān xiàwǔ zài zuòshénme? 

I am doing homework now. - Wǒ xiànzài zài xiě zuòyè.

This tense is how we express ongoing actions that you are actively doing or things that you were doing at a specific time frame. It is really that simple. If you would like to compare it to English, it is like adding the "ing" at the end of a verb.

4. Completion: verb + le

Yesterday I bought some clothes. - Wǒ zuótiān mǎi le yīxiē yīfú.

Yesterday I didn't buy some clothes. - Wǒ zuótiān méi(yǒu) mǎi yīfú.

Le is probably the trickiest of the tenses we will learn today.  In its simplest uses, it is similar to the past tense in English; however any responsible Chinese teacher will not say that without a caveat:  past tense is not entirely accurate. For now we can think of it as the tense we use when we have completed doing something, as in the example above.  If "past-tense" is an easier route of thinking, go with that for now.  We will explore this in more detail in Quarter 2 after everyone has built up some familiarity with other essential topics.

Note: We do NOT use "le" for past tense, negative statements. "Le" indicates change/completion. And there has been no change/completion here.

5. Experienced: verb + guò

“I have learned Chinese before.” Wǒ xué guò zhōngwén.

(Suggests you are no longer studying)

“I have not learned Chinese before.” Wǒ méi(yǒu) xué guò zhōngwén.

This tense is often WAY overcomplicated. Very simply put, we use it to express "I have done something before" "have you done something before?".  It is used to talk about whether or not you did something or had an experience. Let's keep it nice and simple like that. 😉

An important note though, because guò is talking about a past experience, when we say, "I haven't done that before", instead of using bù to make a negative sentence, we will use méiyǒu, like in the example above.