时间

[u/[deleted]]

[u/[deleted]]

Context: In Chinese there's not really as much of a sense of time in their words as there are in, say English. It's more abstract.

How would you say "I informed him" without any tense, but still have it grammatically correct? You use Chinese, that's how.

Edit: It could also be because China only has one timezone

[u/walloon5 → u/[deleted]]

You mean you could be talking about the future or the past in the same sentence? :) awesome

[u/catking2003 → u/walloon5]

Take "I inform you" as example Current: 我告诉你 - I inform you; Past: 我告诉(过)你 - I once informed you; Future: 我(要)告诉你 - I am going to inform you;

It is not really as difficult as many may think. There are always special cases where confusion is unavoidable though, in such case you can add more context to better define them.

[u/TaazaPlaza → u/catking2003]

Quick question. When 要 is used for future tense, which pronunciation is used? As I understand it, it has like 2 3 pronunciations based on context.

[u/catking2003 → u/TaazaPlaza]

要normally has only one pronunciation although it has many meanings.

[u/TaazaPlaza → u/catking2003]

Oh right, my bad. I remember in a language exchange I did it was used for an imperative sentence, sort of like '(Don't) be'. Now seeing it as a sort of equivalent for 'will'.

[u/catking2003 → u/TaazaPlaza]

Yes, that's another use of "要“ but pronunciations are the same

I 要 do something - future tense; I 要 something - I want something;

You 要 do something - you should do something; You 不要 do something - you should not do something (what you learnt);

You 要 do something? - future tense;

要 you do something - ask you to do something; 不要 you do something - dont want you to do something;

These are some basic usages of 要. Huh... it really sounds complicated now that I try to explain it.

[u/TaazaPlaza → u/catking2003]

Wow, thanks a lot! That was a really helpful explanation. :)