- Unlike such Romance languages as French, English, Spanish, and German, Chinese does not have tenses; the verb remains the same; the only way to indicate the time in which an action happens is time expressions such as 昨天、明天、去年、刚才、一个月以前、下个星期、etc. There is particle 了 to indicate the completion of an action, like: 昨天我给妈妈打了一个电话。But it is wrong to assume that 了 is the equivalent of verb + ed in English to represent past tense; it is not. 了 is unnecessary after a verb or stative verb (adjective) when describing past events, especially if the action has to do with one’s abilities, moods, and intentions like 想、是、要、爱、能、可以、etc.
三年前她是一个中学生。
刚才我想去看电影。
姐姐以前非常爱她的男朋友。
40年前中国人不能自己来美国学习。
井河去北京上大学以前，天天都跟暖在一起。
2. When emphasis is on actions rather than acting agents, use disposal 把 + noun + verb
哑巴让井河把暖和丫丫带到城里去生活。
小武生走了以后，就把暖忘了，再也没回来。
哑巴把井河给他的糖塞(sāi, jam)到暖的嘴(zǔi, mouth)里。
哑巴把井河给暖写的信撕(sī, tear)了。
3. Be aware of Chinese idiomatic expressions that you need to memorize in order to use correctly because Chinese and English grammars are different. In English it is okay to say “He marries her” but it would be wrong to say “他结婚她”. It’s either 他娶她 or 她嫁他, or “他跟她结婚”.