5 Basic Chinese Tenses （时态） - Chinese Grammar Simplified 204

The way Chinese tenses are expressed are quite different. In this video, we are going to talk about the underlying patterns of the 5 basic Chinese tenses and their signaling characters.
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[@rogernichols1124]

I teach foreign languages and I can say that this little video is clear, logical carbon-free. The grammar of Mandarin is very straightforward compared with most other languages so this is good news for learners who struggle with the tones of Mandarin and the highly complex system of writing. Thank you!

[@ChineseGrammarSimplified]

Ever since this video has been published. I have seen numerous comments criticizing the correctness of my interpretation of Chinese tenses. I have been repeatedly told that Chinese has no tenses; instead we use aspects to express time and action. And many comments clarify that the character 了 Is not a marker of past tense, but instead, an aspect marker to show an action has been completed. Ignoring some vicious attacks from the trolls, I found many of these comments are academically correct and I appreciate those who are genuinely trying to help others understand the differences between aspects and tenses. However, the reason I chose to interpret and present this lesson as tenses is because the concept of tenses is more relatable to English speakers than the concept of aspects. Many textbooks place the academic correctness over the usability and practicality of the information presented. And I believe that is a major flaw of these books that prevent beginner students to get an entry level understanding of the language. By comparing the Chinese expressions with the English tenses, I try to offer a very clear and easy model for communication. This way, the beginner students can put the model into usage right away. The exceptions to the rules presented here can be later explained and studied in further learning. And that is the purpose of this channel as it is called - Chinese Grammar Simplified. Furthermore, if we want to get technical, 了 does a lot more than serving as aspect markers. (In patterns lIke 太…了, or 快…了, it appears as mordal particles.) And the traditional grammar doctrine also is not clear in explaining the function of two 了s used in one sentence such as 我吃完了午饭了。Can you say both of them are used to mark the completion of an action? Then why do we need both of them? Through my reflection and practice of teaching, I found it helpful to explain the first 了 as the marker of “completing the action” or an equivalent of past tense, and the second 了 in the end of the sentence as the marker of “change has happened”. But going to all these details again defeat the purpose of simplifying the grammars for the beginners. This is my final response about this topic.

[@informant09]

"vicious attacks from the trolls".. Maybe you should take a break from MSM.

[@speakonly-hocnoitienganh7338]

I dont know but this is really helpful to me, a beginner. I am a teacher of language and i understand that we cannot always be accurate AT THE FIRST TIME. For beginners, things need to be simplified and i completely find this video clear and easy to understand. Of course we will learn more as we keep learning. Thank you, man.

[@ELA33520]

@Twin Cities Chinese Tutor I really want to thank you for this Video. Yes, maybe one could always " dig deeper into it " - BUT - your way to explain it is just perfect for a beginner ! I am not a native english-speaker, but I am learning mandarin through english lessons and explanations and I can only say : YOURS is the BEST I found so far. Now I feel much more confident to start speaking mandarin - THANK YOU!! Duōxiè . Please keep more Videos coming

[@svenjaedridge6696]

I teach German as a foreign language and I am trying to learn Chinese in my free time. Even if ppl say your explanation is not 100% correct - it still helps me a lot to do the grammar transfer from either German or English to Chinese. I think, when u teach languages yourself you are always looking for the grammatical equivalent in the language you try to learn. Your explanation really helped me understand the Chinese grammar system and - even more important- it helped me to actually use the language ( as I am an absolute beginner and always struggle to form sentences) so, thx

[@terenceyoungmd8032]

Honestly, I am a beginner studying Chinese and your explanation in tenses rather than aspect made it click for me so much faster. Learning this way, I do believe I will eventually transition to using more aspects. Trolls seem to be the students who get frustrated and look for an excuse why they quit learning or the teachers who stink at effectively teaching their students. Well done and I look forward to more of your videos!

[@NIDELLANEUM]

1:17 so weird to see "in 2020" used to indicate the future

[@kmmm9223]

He's demonstrating how similar are Chinese grammar and English grammar, but normally, we don't talk like that.

[@ivanzhanhufeng6606]

This is the best Chinese grammar tutorial video I’ve ever seen.

[@believeinpeace]

Absolutely perfect, as a beginner I think you explain everything in a superior manner. Thank you so much.

[@kunzhulin800]

These is no very strict grammar rules to express the tense. There are always multiple expressions and many exceptions. The key is make sure the others can understand you base on the context or use some regular expressions.

[@mohammadibnallah8062]

I teach Arabic and I very much agree with you. Some teachers try to show off giving all the possible information about a certain grammer point. As you, I do believe that for beginners we should give just enough info for them to understand the situation and as time passes by they will get more and more info about the same point. I do the same in Arabic and some other professors tell me that I should give a complete explanation. I don't agree. Too much at a time is not good for beginners. Bravo! Keep on!

[@mohammadibnallah8062]

@@JimOverbeckgenius The qur'an is not written in MSA. There is the Arabic from the qur'an, there is the Arabic language from the books, news, tv and then there is the dialect. You learn 2 languages if you are living in the Arab world. If you are at a university in Europe or the US, you will learn only MSA. If you are studying the qur'an, you learn the quranic language.

[@DancingShiva788]

Personally, as an English speaker learning Chinese, I find your lessons very clear and very easy to understand and remember. They stick with me afterwards much better than many others. You are one of my favorite teachers.

[@trapsarentgay4195]

I’m seeing a lot of, “了 doesn’t represent past tense.” Having I’m only 3 weeks in to my Chinese study, I could care less what it actually means right now. I just need a basic concept to grasp onto for the moment

[@David-jx5jk]

了 in Chinese is similar to ました, past affirmative statement of an action or a verb.

[@manningbartlett522]

Yeah, there is a lot of foolish nonsense here. As a native English speaker who is one year into learning Chinese, "了 = past tense" is the absolute best introduction you can get. Over time I was able to build a deeper knowledge of Chinese grammar, but the simple, "了 = past tense" was one of the most useful and confidence building things I learned in the early days. It made perfect sense to a native English speaker, which was the damn point.

[@endie4186]

exactly! the only reason people think this is because beginners are taught it in this way to convey a simple description of what the word means. as you advance in your Chinese so will your meaning of “了”

[@ALoonwolf]

我明天吃了所有我的米饭。 Muahhahahaahhahaa! >:D

[@HuangfanHelloWorld]

@@ALoonwolf 我了解了

[@luoyisishimisi470]

This was 100% awesome and utterly straight to the point!!!

[@MrBuddhassmile]

Really cool stuff. Finally, I get it indetails and understood basic principals of Chinese grammar, inner logic. Thank you! Hope you will continue to make this videos :)

[@alcyonae]

Wow thank you so much! This is the intro primer on Chinese tenses I’ve been needing... delivered in less than 5 minutes! Instant subscriber.

[@misuri1368]

This is the best tutor I’ve ever seen on internet!! You explain it so simple. Thank you.

[@anjuraj8565]

Wow! Thank you for the video. You have given a clear,concise teaching of the grammar points I have been dealing with for the past month in a single video. Looking forward to more videos from you. Subscribed!

[@lizlizzy2755]

The way you put it really helps to understand. You are gifted. Thank you so much for putting so much work into this lesson. Keep them coming please.

[@fidelgomez1842]

Thank you for your teaching. Which is done in a simple form to understand.I am looking forward to your videos.

[@dimwitsadvocate6264]

Wow! I just discovered this dude! Very clear explanations. Thank you for sharing!

[@carmenleary1361]

Love the clarity of the explanations and the examples. Thank you so much.

[@rsainz1296]

Terrific job on explaining Chinese grammar in an easy to understand graphic format! Thank you

[@kittycat9900]

Thank you for the video! Your teaching skills are great and easy to understand. Please keep doing your great job. 谢谢老师。你的课很好👍🏻

[@yingtaowang3397]

Great! Your teaching is very clear and it's 'easy for us to have the basic concepts of the Chinese tenses or aspects.

[@amywong9685]

Very helpful and I love the way you explain it. All this effort!!

[@Temazuka]

love the graphics.. very straightforward & clear.. keep it up! 👍🏼

[@LECityLECLEC]

u are a true artist and making these educational videos thank you such much God bless! Grammar is beautiful and fun in your hands

[@macalice1]

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[@samsaw11]

These are great videos. Thanks heaps! Hope you'll continue to make them!

[@melialeval]

Wow this has probably been the best video I’ve seen about grammar! Thank you so much! I wish I could find videos like this for other languages that I’m also trying to learn xD

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[@speakonly-hocnoitienganh7338]

Thank you so much!

[@miguelumbarila6358]

Excellent video. Thank you very much for helping to go through my new language learning challenge. I'm so excited and you deserve all the students of the Western World.

[@SANJEEWA831]

Thanx for the concise and clear explanation which makes much easier to absorb.

[@volvoreodonto4862]

man how wonderful your explanation is!!!

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[@uwanttono4012]

totally agree!!

[@dimatakdol]

I wish I have found this channel a lot earlier. This is very simple and direct to the point. Thank you so much!

[@user-kb6qo6hs9f]

Thank you, you clearly explained it in such a simple way.

[@ptanisaro]

Very informative Chinese grammar in just a few minutes!

[@luiscrespol8640]

SUPER! This the BEST and ONLY video that has taught me alot in less than 10 minutes! Thanks for sharing!

[@ChineseGrammarSimplified]

Glad it helped!

[@Now-pc9su]

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[@carmelofernandez9020]

FANTASTIC AND SIMPLE!!!! LOVED IT!!!!

[@nguyenhuyen8219]

谢谢你 我一看你的视频就关注你了。真的很容易地理解。

[@nguyenloi2908]

Thank you so much for videos. Its really easy to understand

[@LearningWithEkaterina]

Thank you so much! It is such a good explanation!

[@jihadin5401]

OMG this is really helpful especially for a beginner learner like me. You deserve a subscriber!

[@calinamesegirl3698]

It is really helpful. Thank you. Tenses are starting step to learn a new language.

[@StacieBronson]

Super clear and easy to understand, well done!

[@parthenatsotoulidou7796]

👍👍👍 Just great!!!! I have to congratulate you for your lessons! I just anderstand everything much easier and faster. Feichang ganxie!!!

[@cheel860]

Such a great way of teaching

[@bodon2306]

Really excellent. Well done. Thanks

[@anya3512]

thank you! this was so informative. 谢谢你

[@paulseoighemcgee5772]

Brilliant teaching technique !

[@andreeailie9053]

Very good video......really didn't know all these things. Thank you

[@megangonzalez1919]

Me encantan estos videos! Muchas gracias!!!!

[@xuangiangtrinh6937]

easy to understand. Thank you so much.

[@gracev.t.l9493]

Wow,I could learn Chinese grammar a lot only in this video. Thanks a lot sir❤

[@hackersofasia]

wow! this is really useful. I have lots of videos but this one very simple yet informative. Thank you so much!

[@uwanttono4012]

It's hands down one of the very best videos I have come across - short, simple, informative and fun!

[@tacianafisac]

I am afraid your explanation is not correct. What about a sentence like 他来了我们就去看电影。

[@qianfeizhou8265]

@@tacianafisac Thank you for your reply and question. Firstly, this is only a 5 min video for some basic cases which could hardly cover every exception for sure, you are right, “了” could also be used in other cases rather than just the past tense, this video only shows a typical example, secondly, based on my understanding, “了” is sometimes an indication for the completion of an action or an action in the past, thus, it’s only a typical case here which is easy for Chinese learner to understand tenses. In your case, I guess it’s like “when he (will have) come, then(就) we set off (together) to the cinema”.

[@homaghezel3272]

Thank you. You're my new teacher.

[@blackkingdoms]

Wow, Your explanation is very good

[@zainabfaizee3630]

Thank you sir. You did great job❤️

[@dasilvah.5815]

Thanks, you deserve a new subscription.

[@lucialee1232]

your videos are so helpful and awesome!!!

[@ashaydnaik]

You have a done a great job. 谢谢你！

[@lunaaregai535]

I love this video. You made Chinese tenses so easy to understand. It’s quick and straight to the point! Thank you 😊

[@asemerubay7509]

Very understandable! Thank you!☺☺

[@Hmong-Love-Life]

This is very helpful informative video.

[@David-jx5jk]

Chinese does have time tense, which reflects in the word before or after the verb , as this video teaches. The only difference with English is time tense in Chinese keeps the verbs all the same ( as shown in the video, the verb eat is forever 吃， regardless the time tense)

[@matthewbitter532]

English verbs remain the same too except irregular one. For example, the word cook in the past tense (cooked) remains the same, there’s no changes to the word itself or the root. It’s just that the tense suffix is written without spaces. You can think of chinese verbs in like matter.

[@thomasr5499]

Thank you so much for this! Easy and fast way to understand how the system works in generally :) Pls do more videos about tense i think thats one of the problems most people have when they lear chinese. 🤗👍👍

[@ChineseGrammarSimplified]

Thomas Reiser Thank you so much for watching and your comments. There will be more to come! Please feel free to share!

[@yesitstemi2517]

Thank you for your help ☺️

[@zenxingtou2370]

Thank you, you explained it very well

[@ayushsaw8283]

很好的课。。。 谢谢你 。。这个插曲是很用。

[@hsuanhsuan3602]

謝謝您的分享!

[@MrGanbat84]

This is so helpful. Thank you. More lessons.

[@chikamazri5817]

This video is also helpful for those Chinese people who wants to learn English.

[@HUEIMU]

哇!這是我聽過最棒的時態講解課程!

[@ismailmuhammad2030]

great....! awesome explanation....i liked it very much....

[@sukrochakma5326]

thank you so much, i really found this video helpful and now i can make sentence of my own.

[@user-kn1se7hf9o]

讲的真好，生动形象

[@saddamhossain3678]

非常谢谢

[@markadorable8378]

I'm studying Chinese and today is my 6th day. This video is very helpful ❤️

[@bochunwang5653]

做得很好！加油！

[@uwanttono4012]

Absolutely fantastic lesson, thank you!! I lived in China for 15 years and I tried, really tried to learn the language, but I struggled big time lol. So I knew enough to get by day to day, but I never really knew the difference between "不 bù" and " 没有 méiyǒu" until now. So a BIG thank you!!

[@cmaven4762]

That's one of the first things I learned ... lol ...

[@urnaaesther1972]

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[@maftunapolatowa9728]

谢谢您辅导老师 😊

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[@ernestoa3140]

非常谢。

[@hamdanal-hamdani10]

Amazing. Thank you

[@yuanxilaoshi4755]

谢谢, 很有用!

[@umargul5644]

Great 👍 thanks

[@FluencyinChineseen]

Excellent video!

[@simoneraquel8815]

The best explanation ever; thank you!

[@Britney8511]

The video is misleading! 了le is not past tense! (That's why you haven't seen other teachers explain it in this way!)

[@simoneraquel8815]

Tks Jo Lan; you are free to find out your way, ok? Don't worry about how I select my videos...

[@luoyisishimisi470]

I heard that!!! You go girrrl!!! And I have heard other teachers during my studies say something similar, if not the same thing. Whether "le" functions as a conceptual way of showing completion, aspect, or something that is in the "past tense", some of us get the general or basic usage, and kudos to him for taking the time to break it down in the simplest way he could in such a short video. And as for as I have seen in research the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished. So "finished", to me. means that the action is "completed'. It also appears, to me, that there is a lack of understanding that certain grammatical terms in one language can be parallel to the definitive functions of the words in another language. Hope that made sense to the naysayers, but if it didn't----well, that's just too bad!!! And, Teacher, thanks again for the lesson!!!

[@madiha_naz]

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You are really explain very well, I wish you will make lots of video on a Chinese laungue 👍👍

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非常清晰‘ 继续加油哦💪

[@gui250493]

Thank you

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Thanks.

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Wow.. amazing!!