How to express different English tense in Chinese
As far as I know, there are 12 main tenses in English. We can first divide it into: past, present and future. Then divide it into: simple, perfect, continuous, perfect continuous. And combining them in different ways can form different tenses. Generally speaking, I think English expresses different tenses by changing the verb in the sentence and using time to be precise.
However, unlike in English, in Chinese we do not change the verb; rather, we express different tenses by using auxiliary word, adverb and time. And I think Chinese doesn’t distinguish tenses as clearly, precisely and strongly as English does. Generally speaking, I guess Chinese more relies more on contexts than on the tense itself to describe, understand and judge things.
We use time words such as 每天、现在、昨天 and so on; we use adverbs and auxiliary words such as 正在、已经、完、了、过、将、要 and so on. The following are some examples:
1. Present
1.1Present simple
He jogs everyday. 他每天跑步。
1.2Present continuous
He is jogging now. 他现在正在跑步。
1.3Present perfect
He has jogged and feel refreshed now. 他(已经)跑完步了，现在觉得神清气爽。
1.4 Present perfect continuous
He has been jogging for at least 2 hours. 他一直跑了至少2小时了。
2. Past
2.1 Past simple
He jogged everyday when he was in his twenties. 当他二十多岁的时候，他每天跑步。
He jogged, ate breakfast and went to work yesterday. 昨天，他跑了步，吃了早饭，然后就去工作了。
2.2 Past continuous
He was jogging when he heard the death of the president. 当他听到总统逝世的消息时，他正在跑步。
2.3 Past perfect
He had jogged and felt refreshed yesterday. 昨天，他跑完步后，觉得神清气爽。
2.4 Past perfect continuous
He had been jogging for at least 2 hours when he decided to have a break yesterday. 昨天，当他决定休息一下的时候，他一直跑了至少2小时了。
Oops. Maybe it’s not a wise decision for me to try to organize and explain how to express English tenses in Chinese. And the above examples are by no means the only answers to translate the English sentences. Sometimes we even often omit the words like 一直、已经 but it’s still understandable; however, sometimes some words cannot be omited. But what is the exact criterion, I haven’t had any idea yet.
