Chinese Grammar - Aspects

Aspects

Aspect is a feature of grammar that gives information about the temporal flow of language. Chinese has a unique set of aspects: for example, there are two perfectives, 了 (-le) and 过 (-guo) which subtly differ in meaning.

  • le (perfective)
    • 我(wǒ) 当(dāng) 了(le) 兵(bīng)。
      I became a soldier (and I still am).
    • 他(tā) 看(kàn) 了(le) 三(sān) 场(chǎng) 球(qiú) 赛(sài)。
      He watched three ballgames (and he probably has watched many during his lifetime; often used in a time-delimited context such as "today" or "last week").
  • guo (experiential perfective)
  1. 我(wǒ) 当(dāng) 过(guo) 兵(bīng)。
    I was/used to be a soldier before (but no longer am).
  2. 他(tā) 看(kàn) 过(guo) 三(sān) 场(chǎng) 球(qiú) 赛(sài)。
    He has watched three ballgames (and that is the sum of all the ballgames he has ever watched; in the context of actions like "watch" or "take part," which can easily be repeated, this does not have the same connotation of the first usage, but merely denotes that the action was in the past and describes the state of affairs up to now).

The two imperfectives, 正在 (zhèngzài-) and 着 (-zhe) also differ in nuance:

  • zhèngzài/zài (dynamic)
    • 我(wǒ) (正(zhèng)) 在(zai) 挂(guà) 画(huà)。
      I'm hanging pictures up. (The "hanging" is a continuous dynamic event.)
  • zhe (static)
    • 墙(qiáng) 上(shàng) 挂(guà) 着(zhe) 一(yì) 幅(fú) 画(huà)。
      A picture's hanging on the wall. (The "hanging" is a continuous current state.)

If the sentence could be rephrased using "in the middle of", then zhèngzai would be best; otherwise, zhe. "I'm hanging pictures up" would take zhèngzài, while "A picture's hanging on the wall" would take zhe. The two imperfectives may both occur in the same clause, e.g. 他正在打着电话 tā zhèngzai dǎ zhe diànhuà "He is in the middle of telephoning someone".

  • Reduplication is used to form the delimitative aspect — an action that goes on for some time:
    • 我(wǒ) 到(dào) 公(gōng) 园(yuán) 走(zǒu) 走(zǒu)。
      I'm going for a walk in the park.

This sentence could variably be expressed by 走一走 zǒu yi zǒu, which means the same thing, and could possibly be translated as "walk a little walk".

Read more about this topic:  Chinese Grammar

Famous quotes containing the word aspects:

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