Chinese grammar: Past experience

过 / PAST EXPERIENCE

过 /guò/ TO PASS

过 /guo/ particle for experience in the past

_THIS IS A TESTING BETA VERSION OF THE SITE_

You know that when we want to emphasize that some action is finished, we use 了 /le/ – like in the sentence: I BOUGHT A NEW CAR, COME AND HAVE A LOOK!

However sometimes we need to say that we know what it’s like to buy a car, because we have the experience – we went through the process

To express our experience, we put 过 /guo/ right behind the verb

COMPARE

I (have) bought a car. (the action is finished.)

我买了汽车。

<Wǒ mǎi le qìchē.>

I have bought a car. (I have the experience of buying a car.)

我买过汽车。

<Wǒ mǎi guo qìchē.>

He went to China.

他去了中国。

<Tā qù le Zhōngguó.>

He has been to China.

他去过中国。

<Tā qù guo Zhōngguó.>

EXAMPLES OF 过

Have you been here before?

你以前来过这里吗？

Nǐ yǐqián lái guo zhèli ma?

TO COME

Last year I went to China, next year I will maybe go to America.

我去年去过中国，明年可能要去美国。

Wǒ qùnián qùguo Zhōngguó, míngnián kěnéng yào qù Měiguó.

YEARS

Have you been here before?

你来过这里吗？

Nǐ lái guo zhèli ma?

I have been here a good few times.

我来过这里好几次。

<Wǒ lái guo zhèli hǎo jǐ cì.>

TO COME

I have seen this film quite a few times.

这部电影我看过很多遍。

<Zhèbu diànyǐng wǒ kàn guo hěnduō biàn.>

I haven’t been to China yet, but I want to go there a lot.

我还没去过中国，可是我很想去。

Wǒ hái méi qù guo Zhōngguó, kěshì wǒ hěn xiǎng qù.

NEGATION

To say that we haven’t been through something, we use 没 (有) /méi (yǒu)/

过 /guo/ remains in the negative form

EXAMPLES

I haven’t been to Taiwan.

我没去过台湾。

Wǒ méi qù guo Táiwān.

I haven't been to China.

我没去过中国。

<Wǒ méi qù guo Zhōngguó.>

I have (never) bought a car.

我没买过汽车。

<Wǒ méi mǎi guo qìchē.>

I haven't been to China yet.

我还没去过中国。

<Wǒ hái méi qù guo Zhōngguó.>

QUESTIONS

Mostly we ask question using the module 有没有 /yǒu-meiyou/

过 /guo/ remains in the question

We can create questions using 吗 /ma/ as well

EXAMPLES

Has he told you this story?

他有没有给你讲过这个故事？

<Tā yǒu-meiyou gěi nǐ jiǎng guo zhège gùshì?>

Have you seen this film?

你有没有看过这部电影？

<Nǐ yǒu-meiyou kàn guo zhè bù diànyǐng?>

过 / TO PASS

了 / FINISHED ACTION

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