Re: time distinctions

From: "H. S. Teoh"

> On Wed, Aug 23, 2000 at 04:56:35PM -0400, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> > A Chinese-American told me once that Chinese (Mandarin?) doesn't have
> > verb tenses.  Is this true?  I can see a language getting by using
> > circumlocutions or something to indicate time.  I've been thinking of
> > doing that with Aragis.
> I don't think Mandarin has a way of differentiating between past and
> perfect tenses. Of course, you do have various ways of talking about the
> past, each with its own nuances, so arguably you can express the idea of a
> perfect tense in Mandarin. But a Mandarin speaker certainly doesn't think
> in terms of whether an action is past or perfect.
> > What kinds of time distinctions *can* you make?
> >
> > past
> > present
> > future
As far as Chinese is concerned, I think HS Teoh is on mark; Chinese speakers
don't think *in terms of* whether an action is past or perfect (couldn't one
say that loosely about the French use of the passé composé), though they can
certainly discern the difference from context if need be. As John Cowan
pointed out, things are often completed or over with in the past, so there
is a considerable amount of overlap in the use of the Chinese suffix -le and
what would translate as the past tense in English. But, as John also points
out, -le can extend into English present and future tenses. I like to think
of the slangy English examples, "I'm outta here" or "We gone" for a
translation of "zou3 le", which also connote a feeling of "Let's go" plus
"We really gotta go." "I forget" also tacks on a -le in Chinese since the
nature of forgetting is such that when you say you forget, you also mean you
have forgotten. "I don't Verb anymore" uses -le, since it's over. Usw.

So, as others have mentioned, to mark tense in Chinese, use adverbs: today,
tomorrow, yesterday, last night, and such.

For English past tense, Chinese -le often works. Sometimes for English
perfect: "Have you eaten?" "Ni3 chi1le fan4 mei2?"

English's experiential perfect "have you (ever)...?" translates as V-guo:
Ni3 qu4guo (le) Fa4guo2 mei2you3?  "Have you (ever) been to France?

Future: Doesn't need to be marked, but "hui4", "can" or "yao4", "want,
need", often work themselves in there. "Ming2tian1 hui4 xia4yu3 ma?" "Will
it rain tomorrow?"

Present: Usually unmarked. There is a suffix, -zhe, which marks a
progressive aspect. "Someone is Verb-ing". It's used in expressions, where
in my mind, the French would say "en V-ant": She left crying. Elle est
partie en pleurant. Ta1 ku1zhe zou3le (ta1=she, ku1 = cry, zhe zou3=go le).
For my money, though, and for all the time we spent on it in Chinese
101, -zhe barely gets a work-out; I almost never heard it used or read it.

Kou