Category: Intermediate

Mandarin Past Tense - Difference Between "de" and "le"

11/14/2015

wǒ chī le
我吃了 (I ate)
vs.
wǒ chī de
我吃的 (I ate)

I have been asked in my class what's the difference between past tense form "le" and "de". Thanks to many other great Chinese teachers on the internet, I now know the difference! Here‘s my two cents.

The first sentence 我吃了（wǒ chī le）is the simple past tense form meaning the action is complete. The second sentence 我吃的（wǒ chī de）is the modifying form emphasizing another part of speech in the sentence. In this case, it means "I ate." The emphasis is on "I" to mean "I am the person who ate it."

If someone ask you, "Did you eat?" (你吃了吗?） you will say 我吃了(wǒ chī le).
If someone ask you, "Who ate the cake?" (谁吃的蛋糕？）you will say, 我吃的 (wǒ chī de）

Let's look at a more complicated one:
我昨天看了（wǒ zuótiān kàn le）( I saw yesterday)
vs.
我昨天看的（wǒ zuótiān kàn de）(I saw yesterday)

In a more complex sentence like above, "de" ending can be used to emphasize any part of the speech other than the verb.

Question:
Did you see it yesterday? （你昨天看了吗？Nǐ zuótiān kànle ma）
Answer:
I saw it yesterday. (我昨天看了。 wǒ zuótiān kàn le）

Question:
Who saw it yesterday? (谁昨天看的？shuí zuótiān kàn de）
Answer:
I saw it yesterday. (我昨天看的。wǒ zuótiān kàn de）

Question：
Which day did you see it? (你哪天看的? Nǐ nǎ tiān kàn de)
Answer:
I saw it yesterday. (我昨天看的。wǒ zuótiān kàn de）

Another example:
我去了（wǒ qù le) I went.
我走路去的 (wǒ zǒu lù qù de) I went by walking.

The second emphasize on the "how," not the verb "go" itself.

I hope this helps! Here are some exercise:
Choose the correct answer based on question.
1. When did he do it?
a) 他昨天做的。Tā zuótiān zuò de ("zuò“ means "do"
b) 他昨天做了。Tā zuótiān zuò le

2. How did he do it?
a) 我教他了。Wǒ jiāo tā le ("jiāo" means "teach")
b) 我教他的。Wǒ jiāo tā de

3. Did he do it?
a) 他昨天做的。Tā zuótiān zuò de
b) 他昨天做了。Tā zuótiān zuò le

4. Who did it yesterday?
a) 他昨天做的。Tā zuótiān zuò de
b) 他昨天做了。Tā zuótiān zuò le

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The Ball Float Up皮球浮上来了

3/22/2013

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Smart Stories for Kids in Chinese

jǐ gě hái zi zài dà shù xià pāi pí qiú。
几个孩子在大树下拍皮球。
A few kids are playing ball under the big tree.

pí qiú yī tiào， tiào dào shù dòng lǐ。
皮球一跳，跳到树洞里。
The ball bounced, and fall into a tree hole.

shù dòng hěn shēn， pí qiú ná bù chū lái le
树洞很深，皮球拿不出来了。
The tree hole is deep, and they could not get the ball out.

yǒu gè hái zi yòng pén dǎ lái shuǐ，bǎ shuǐ guàn dào shù dòng lǐ
有个孩子用盆打来水，把水灌到树洞里。
One kid got a basin full of water, and poured the water into the tree hole.
shuǐ guàn mǎn le， pí qiú fú shàng lái le。
水灌满了，皮球浮上来了。
The water fulfilled the hole and the ball float up.

New words:
Shù
树 tree
pāi
拍 clap
Tiào
跳 bounce / jump
Dòng
洞 hole
Lǐ
里 inside
shēn
深 deep
pí qiú
皮球 leather ball with air
ná
拿 take
Pén
盆 basin
guàn
灌 pour
mǎn
满 full
Fú
浮 float

Questions to think about:

xiǎo péng yǒu men zài zuò shén mē？
1.小朋友们在做什么？
what are the kids doing?
wèi shén me zhè gè qiú ná bù chū lái
2. 为什么这个球拿不出来？
Why couldn't the ball get out?
zuì hòu， qiú shì zěn me ná chū lái de？
3. 最后，球是怎么拿出来的？
Finally, how did they get the ball out?

Chinese radical (san dian sui)

氵is a radical. It means water. It is called 三点水(sān diǎn shuǐ )Chinese characters can be formed with a radical on the left and another element word on the right. Radicals gives meaning to the character, and the element part helps you to pronounce it.

Look at the text and write down all characters that has the 氵radical and find out their pinyin and meaning.

洞氵+ 同

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Chinese Conjunction: If ... Then...

2/6/2013

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rǔ guǒ jìu
如果…就… If…then…

Example:
Rú guǒ xià yu, wǒ jìu bù néng tī zú qíu
如果下雨，我就不能踢足球。
If it rains, then I can’t play soccer.

Exercise with the following phrases:

mǎi dàn gāo, mǎi qiǎo kē lì
买蛋糕，买巧克力
buy cake, buy chocolate

If I buy cake, then I can't buy chocolate

bù xué xí, wán yóu xì
不学习，玩游戏
don’t study, play game

If I don't study, then I can't play game