Most of time, you
speak Chinese without having to clarify the time frame you are
referring to because people can understand through the context.
However, there are some situations where you would emphasize
that the action or event has already taken place. Such cases
are referred to as present perfect tense in English. In
Chinese, it means putting some other structural adverbs at
proper positions in the sentence.
Knowing the use of
following adverb structures will help you learn how to use
express present perfect tense in Chinese.
Similar to future
tense, the adverbs presenting present perfect tense are often
put between the subject noun and verb as following: Noun + adverb + verb + noun
1.
了
le
Adverb.
了is
always put at the end of sentence and means
“already” and help indicates perfect tense of the verb.
See the following
example:
2.
花开了
hua1 kai1 le
The flower has
blossomed.
了is
only a slight indication of present perfect tense. To emphasize
the perfect tense, you need to use some other adverbs in
addition.
3.
已经yi3 jing1
Adverb. Also means
“already”.
已经is
always put right before the verbs.
See the next 2
example:
4.
电影已经开始了 dian4 ying3
yi3 jing1 kai1 shi3 le
The movie has
already started
5.
项目已经完成了xiang4 mu4 yi3 jing1 wan2 cheng2 le
The project has
finished.
Another adverb
similar to已经
is introduced below:
6.
过
guo4
Adverb. Also means
“already”. Unlike
已经,
过has
to be put after the verbs and used together with
了.
Two more examples
using过:
7.
我吃过午饭了 wo3 chi1 guo4
wu3 fan4 le
I have already had
lunch.
8.
他读过这本书了 ta1 du2 guo4
zhe4 ben3 shu1 le
He has already read
the book.
Sometimes the three
adverbs are used altogether to give a strong emphasis on the
perfect tense. See the next example:
9. 我已经服过药了
wo3 yi3 jing1 fu2 guo4 yao4 le
I have already taken
the medicine, (meaning that I do not have to take it again…)
