Talking about the past

In this lesson you will learn to talk about the past in Chinese — what you did yesterday, last week, or this morning. Chinese verbs never change form. Instead, we use the small word 了 (le) and time words like 昨天 (yesterday) to show that an action is finished.

昨天我去了市场

zuótiān wǒ qù le shìchǎng

ትናንት ወደ ገበያ ሄድኩ

slow

今天早上我喝了咖啡

jīntiān zǎoshang wǒ hē le kāfēi

ዛሬ ጠዋት ቡና ጠጣሁ

上个星期我买了英吉拉

shàng ge xīngqī wǒ mǎi le yīngjīlā

ባለፈው ሳምንት እንጀራ ገዛሁ

我没去亚的斯亚贝巴

wǒ méi qù Yàdìsī Yàbèibā

ወደ አዲስ አበባ አልሄድኩም

slow

昨天是星期六。早上阿贝贝去了市场。他买了英吉拉和咖啡。在市场，他看见了萨拉。他们一起喝了咖啡，也聊了天。下午阿贝贝回家了。他没看电视，他读了一本书。晚上他给妈妈打了电话。这是很好的一天。

To ask "Did you...?", add 吗 (ma) at the end: 你买了咖啡吗? = "Did you buy coffee?" Answer yes with 买了 (mǎi le, "bought") or no with 没买 (méi mǎi, "did not buy").

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昨天我去了市场