Comparing 以前 yHqián ‘before’ with 以后/以後 yHhòu ‘after’ 42.5
Say this Not this我去中国以前学了两年的中文。 *我去了中国以前学了两年的中文。
我去中國以前學了兩年的中文。 我去了中國以前學了兩年的中文。
Wǒ qù Zhōngguó yǐqián xué le
liǎng nián de Zhōngwén.Wǒ qù le Zhōngguó yǐqián xué le
liǎng nián de Zhōngwén.
Before I went to China I studied
two years of Chinese.他考试以前复习功课了。 *他考试了以前复习了功课。
他考試以前復習功課了。 他考試了以前復習了功課。
Tā kǎo shì yǐqián fùxí gōngkè le. Tā kǎo shì le yǐqián fùxí le gōngkè.
Before he took the test he reviewed
the lessons.For many Mandarin speakers, the sequence use of 就 jiù is also not acceptable in 以前 yǐqián
sentences. For these speakers, if 就 jiù occurs in an 以前 yǐqián sentence, it has the sense of
‘only,’ and not of sequence.
我去中国以前就学了两年的中文。
我去中國以前就學了兩年的中文。
Wǒ qù Zhōngguó yǐqián jiù xué le liǎng nián de Zhōngwén.
Before I went to China I only studied two years of Chinese.