#tenses

Hello!

Don't worry, it's not just you. The tenses are really tricky! I'll go through all of them in one post since knowing what past perfect is not can also be helpful to knowing when it's being used incorrectly/correctly.

Simple Tenses

These are the ones that everyone knows best, typically just referred to as past, present, or future tense.

Past Simple

"I ate breakfast today"

Present Simple

"I eat breakfast every day"

Future Simple

"I will eat breakfast later"

Continuous Tenses

These tenses are used when we're talking about a length of time--so something is continuously happening.

Past Continuous

"I was eating breakfast when my sister entered the room"

(This counts because we're talking about something happening within a length of time--the sister arrived during the MC's breakfast)

Other examples include:

"He was walking past the river when his phone chimed."

"The movie was still playing when the theatre lights flicked on."

Present Continuous

Similar, but we use it for an action happening right now.

"I am eating breakfast."

Future Continuous

"I will be eating breakfast when you go to dance."

"I will be driving at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow"

Perfect Tenses

These are used whenever we're talking about something that occurs before something else.

Past Perfect

So this is an action that's occurred even further in the past than the action we are referring to.

"I had already eaten when my sister arrived."

Present Perfect

This is an action that's happened in the past leading up to this present moment.

"I have already eaten breakfast" (speaker is referring to the present through the past)

Future Perfect

Used for an action that will happen in the future, before an even more future action.

"I will have already left the city by the time you're back."

(MC will have left the city sometime in the future. Their friend will be back in the city at an even later point in time. Thus, future perfect.)

Perfect Continuous Tenses

Used whenever we're talking about a length of time up to a specific point in time. Or otherwise, it's a combination between perfect tenses and continuous tenses.

Past Perfect Continuous

"I had been eating breakfast already when my sister arrived."

I had been... = past perfect

eating breakfast = past continuous

Or in other words, imagine you're describing an action that takes a length of time, and has occurred before the action you are talking about.

Present Perfect Continuous

Use for an action that started in the past, and has continued until this present moment.

"I have been eating my breakfast for 40 minutes now."

(MC started breakfast 40 minutes ago, and that has continued until this present moment.)

Future Perfect Continuous

Use for an action that will happen sometime in the future, for a length of time before another action.

"I will have been on the train out of the city for 30 minutes by the time you get back."

So to answer your question, I think the best way is to pick apart the sentence and find the words "directing" it to determine what tense it is in (and if it's betraying the tense it's meant to be in).

So for example, if your sentence is:

He had been seeing a movie when the aliens arrived.

We can pull out:

Had = past tense Been seeing = past continuous

So if we wanted to say that he wasn't watching the movie when the aliens arrived, he had just seen a movie that day (past perfect), we'd need to change that second part like so:

He had seen a movie the day the aliens arrived.

etc.

As long as you're intentional about what tenses you use and when (avoiding hopping between them too often, or skipping points in the timeline between sentences), you can mix and match them together. For example:

Mandy and her friend Ella are taking a painting class at the local library. They've always wanted to create their own wall art.

Mandy and her friend are taking a painting class = present continuous, "are taking"

They've always wanted to create their own art = present perfect tense "have always wanted"

Hello

I have a list, I don't have a trick - using them, reading a lot, listening to the radio (...) is the way. Even natives make mistakes!

Reminder: the indicative mood is used to express facts, certainty, objective reality, and descriptions in most independent statements and questions; the subjunctive mood is used almost exclusively in dependent clauses introduced by que (or equivalent conjunctions) to express subjectivity, doubt, emotion, necessity, or uncertainty.

Après que (after): je partirai après qu’il sera arrivé - I will leave after he has arrived. (but avant que: subjunctive; après que: indicative (action is completed, thus factual).

Croire que (to believe that) - in the affirmative only: je crois que c'est vrai - I believe that it is true (but je ne crois pas qu'il soit arrivé).

Douter que (to doubt that) – in negative or interrogative forms only: je ne doute pas qu’il vient - I don’t doubt that he is coming (but the affirmative douter uses the subjunctive: je doute qu’il vienne).

Se douter que (to suspect/be sure that): je me doute qu'il dort encore - I am sure that he's still sleeping (confirmation).

Espérer que (to hope that): j'espère que tu comprends - I hope you understand.

Être probable que (to be likely that) - in the affirmative only: il est probable que tu as raison - it is likely that you are correct (but il n'est pas probable que tu puisses y aller, est-il probable qu'elle parte à l'heure ?)

S’étonner du fait que (to be surprised that) – indicative when focusing on an established fact: je m’étonne du fait qu’il est toujours en retard - I’m surprised by the fact that he’s always late (but without du fait que, subjunctive is expected: je m’étonne qu’il soit en retard).

Il est certain/clair/évident/sûr que (it is certain/clear/evident/sure that): il est clair qu’elle ment - it’s clear she is lying.

Imaginer que (to imagine that): j'imagine que tu dis la vérité - I imagine that you are telling the truth.

Nier que (to deny that) – indicative when the speaker asserts the truth of the denied fact: tu ne peux pas nier qu’il a un vrai talent - you can’t deny he is truly talented.

Penser/trouver que (to think/find that) – in the affirmative only: je pense qu’il a raison - I think he is right (but the negative and the interrogative trigger the subjunctive: je ne pense pas qu’il ait raison - I don't think he's right).

Se rappeler/souvenir que (to remember that): je me souviens qu’il était très gentil - I remember he was very kind.

Supposer que (to suppose) – when presenting a hypothesis as a fact for argument’s sake: suppose qu’il a raison, que ferais-tu ? - suppose he is right, what would you do? (but for pure hypothesis, subjunctive is possible: supposons qu’il ait raison...)

In the case of circumstantial subordinate/adverbial clauses:

that express cause: the indicative is triggered by an established fact and the subjunctive by rejection or alternative (il gagne parce qu'il travaille but il a gagné, non qu'il ait travaillé dur and il a gagné, qu'il ait travaillé dur ou eut de la chance).

that express time: the subjunctive is triggered by jusqu'à ce que and avant que exclusively (j'attends jusqu'à ce que tu y ailles but je pars dès que tu t'en vas).

we're tackling the tenses (with the feared 了) and the way our teacher explained the concept of time kind of helped me understand it better.

basically, tenses as we know them in other languages are only constructed in Chinese through complements of time: if you want to express the past, you only need to use 昨天, 上个月...

but with particles such as 了 and 着, they determine the aspect of the action: an action not yet achieved, already achieved, about to be done...

since i've counted three ways to use 了already, i want to lay them out to understand the differences better.

the first one is the 了 of an accomplished action, placed right after the verb: 我买了一件大衣。I bought a coat. in a series of verbs, the whole is counted as one, so 了 is placed after the last verb: 我带他们参观了巴黎的一些地方。I went with them to visit a few places in Paris.

the second 了 marks a change of state and is placed at the end of the sentence: 他病了。He got sick. (He was fine before.) / 明天不上课了。There won't be class tomorrow. (Class was supposed to happen.)

third and last 了 is translated by "going to do something" as in the immediate future. this one uses 快，要，快要，就要 before the verb and 了 at the end of the sentence. Important to note that 快要 can't be used with a time complement, because 快 translates to "soon" -> we can't say "In a moment, I am going to do that soon.", it sounds a bit redundant: X他马上就要到了。He is going to come soon.

to show that tenses and the aspect of the action are different

-> 我今天吃鱼了。I ate fish today. 今天 shows that the action took place today, and the 了 shows that the action was already accomplished earlier today.

then we have 着, which marks an aspect of duration: 桌子上放着很多书。There are a lot of books (put) on the table. [it's a bit hard to translate that sentence from my french textbook, my bad :((]

着 added to the verb 放 adds the notion of a state. The books keep being on the table. For exemple: 开 (to open) -> 开着 (to be open)

-> 着 can be added with another aspect, which is 正在 noting an action in motion, being completed. Ex. 他正在床上躺着看汉语书呢。He was reading chinese books while he laid down on his bed. (he was in the state of reading while in the process of laying down)

正在 is the progression of an action, an action that is dynamic, not static the way that a 着 action is. -> 她正在洗澡呢。She was in the middle/process of washing up. [again, hard to make that difference in English]

since it is an adverb, it goes right before the verb.

-> it can be used to highlight a following sudden action: 我正在外面散步，忽然下雨了。I was walking outside when suddenly it started raining. (了 here is a change of state since the narrator noticed the rain)

finally, we have 刚, used for an action that just ended/started: 他的病刚好。He just got better/healthier. 电影刚开始。The movie just started.

as with 正在, it goes before the verb.

-> it can be used in a way similar to the structure 一/就, as 刚/就: 昨天，林凌刚进教室，老师就开始上课了。As soon as Lin Ling entered the classroom, the teacher started the class. (with 一, you just have to replace 刚, the structure is the same)

that's it for this post! (which is quite long, to be honest.) it was sitting in my drafts for a while and revisiting it helped me remind myself of the subtle differences.

source : @cheminer-poesie-cressant

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souvenir de demain

hier n’a pas eu lieu

ta parole compromise à jamais entre les deux temps

--

memory of tomorrow

yesterday did not happen

your word compromised forever between the two tenses

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© Pierre Cressant