Progressive tenses describe ongoing actions at the time of utterance. Chinese languages make clear distinctions of progressive actions. In Cantonese, a progressive marker term expresses the continuous aspect. For example, similar terms are used to describe the following sentences:
“I am wearing clothes.”
“I am putting clothes.”
In general, however, the progressive aspect is assumed.
Verbs in the Chinese language do not change. As a result, many people believe that there are no definite tenses in the language. The direct translation of a present perfect phrase like “I am doing it now” in Chinese would be “I do it now.” The words used together with the verb indicate what time the action happened.
In addition, one cannot modify the Chinese verbs. Instead, phrases like “I have eaten,” will loosely translate to “I eat.” Though the verbs are accurate, a Chinese learner will initially have difficulties getting the sense of time.
Mandarin speakers generally use the term “yao” to refer to both the present and future. However, in particular instances it cannot be specifically ascertained if the speaker is talking about the present of the future. For example:
“Ni yao zai fanguan chi ma?” could mean any of the following:
Chinese language takes a different perspective when it comes to tenses. The past perfect tense is no exception. When someone has just done something, instead of changing the tenses, an additional letter is added to the word to show recent action or the time is indicated. For example, instead of saying ‘I have just finished’, in Chinese it is ‘I finished five minutes ago’.
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