sentence pattern lesson 14

Lesson 14, Pattern 3 V-過

last revised April 19, 2003

我去過中國城 I have been to Chinatown (I have the experience of going, but I am not there now).
我去了中國城 I went to Chinatown (and I may still be there).

Chinese has a special aspect marker to indicate that someone has had the experience of doing something, but the action is not continuing in the present. This pattern is somewhat similar to that for the aspect particle 了 but there are significant differences. Look at the sentences above for contrast, then study the examples below.

Pattern					Example	English
S		V-過	O		我吃過餃子	I have eaten dumplings. (I had the experience some time in the past.)
S	沒	V-過	O		田小姐沒去過小東京	Miss Tian has never been to Little Tokyo.
S	還沒	V-過	O	呢	田小姐還沒去過小東京呢	Miss Tian has not yet been to Little Tokyo. (She may go there in the future.)
S		V-過	O	嗎? 沒有?	你跳過芭蕾舞嗎? 金老師教過文學沒有?	Have you ever danced ballet? Has Teacher Jin ever taught literature?
S	有沒有	V-過	O		你有沒有做過涼拌黃瓜?	Have you ever made cold-dressed cucumbers?

In sentences with no time-when expression, the English equivalent is the present perfect tense, "I have done something." The question form means "Have you ever done something?" Note that there are three ways to make a question. Two of them are parallel to the pattern for aspect particle 了 but the last one is different. Although it is less commonly used in northern regions, it is perfectly fine to say, 有沒有 Verb-過. However, it is not standard Mandarin to use 有沒有 Verb-了 (it's slangy and nonstandard, although some people do say it that way).

Note the difference between a straight negation with 沒 Verb-過 (have never done it) and the same sentence with 還沒 Verb-過 Object 呢 (have not done it yet). If a time-when expression is present in the sentence, in most cases you will just use modal particle 了 to indicate past action. However, it is also possible to use a time-when expression with 過. The English equivalent of such a sentence reverts to straight past tense, but there is a little more emphasis on the experiential nature of the action. There is no way to render this subtlety in English.

昨天晚上他看過課文. He read the text last night.

For greater emphasis, it is possible to add modal particle 了 at the end of the entire sentence.

你吃過飯了嗎? Have you eaten yet?
他去過中國城了. He has been to Chinatown.


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