<p>First, I'll state here that Chinese does not have much of a concept of a past tense version of a word/phrase. Instead of adding &quot;-ed&quot; as suffix or changing some words entirely (i.e., sleep-&gt;slept, run-&gt;ran, etc...) as in English, when using Chinese you add <em>entire words</em> to  signify that an action or event happened in the past. Let's use a simple example:</p>
<p>The English sentence &quot;I am going to the store&quot; roughly translates to &quot;我要去商店&quot;. This is in the present tense.</p>
<p>The past tense of the above sentence would be &quot;I went to the store&quot; in English. In Chinese, we use &quot;去過&quot;, &quot;已經&quot;, or the even more obscure &quot;去了&quot; to indicate that we are talking about past tense here. Essentially speaking, we use additional adjectives and adverbs (usually the latter) to describe that an event <em>&quot;had happened&quot;</em>, instead of <em>&quot;is happening&quot;</em>. Also, it's not just past tense, either. The same goes for all <a href="https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/tenses-in-english/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">12 tenses in English</a>, including the past, current/present, and future tense general categories and their respective sub-tense (present simple, perfect, continuous, etc... won't list all twelve here). We add words like &quot;已經&quot;, &quot;過&quot;, &quot;了&quot;, &quot;曾經&quot;, for past, &quot;待會&quot;, &quot;會&quot;, &quot;要&quot; for future, and &quot;正&quot;, &quot;正在&quot; for the present. Note that most of these words and phrases used to describe tense are also not exclusive to describing tense, either. They all have their respective meanings and can be used elsewhere in other contexts.</p>
<p>Now, let's move on to your sentences and their Chinese translations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>&quot;When did we leave?&quot;:</p>
<ul>
<li>&quot;我们什么时候离开的 &quot; is correct. Here, the past tense is &quot;inferred&quot; by the whole sentence itself, rather than a specific word or phrase.</li>
<li>&quot;我们什么时候走的&quot; is basically correct, but is slightly less formal than the one above. The problem here have nothing to do with past tense, though. It's that &quot;走&quot; is more informal than &quot;离开&quot;, and more likely to be heard in casual conversations than in written text. The difference is minor, though, and this sentence is also essentially correct.</li>
<li>&quot;我们是什么时候走的&quot; is also correct. It means the same thing as the one above, but with added clarity since the word &quot;是&quot; is added.</li>
<li>&quot;我们什么时候走了&quot; is incorrect. Although correct usage of &quot;了&quot;
as an indicator of past tense is extremely similar to this one, there's a subtle difference. &quot;了&quot; is usually used to represent a change, completion of an event or action, finalization of an action, or ending of a condition. Since the sentence here is a question about something that had already happened and had not changed since then, &quot;了&quot; can't be used here.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;what time are we leaving?&quot;: To make it past tense, the best option is similar to the above sentences: &quot;我們是几点走的&quot; or &quot;我們剛才是几点走的&quot; to be more clear.</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;When should we leave?&quot;: There's no past tense here, since &quot;should&quot; implies that it have not happened yet. However, if what you actually meant is &quot;We're late. When should we have left?&quot; after leaving late, then the correct Chinese corresponding sentence would be &quot;我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?&quot;.</p>
</li>
</ul>

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2024-08-27T10:21:23.133Z
thx for the info, I'll have to lookup the relevent pinyin and add it to my notes. So 走 (to leave) cannot be changed into "left" with 走了? i.e. 了CANNOT change "leave" into "left" BUT it can change "eat" into "ate", correct? By the way 我走了 wo zǒule — how do you possibly figure out which of "walk/leave/move/run” it means when the rest of the sentence wont give a clue to which one you mean i.e I walk/I leave/I run?
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-28T08:40:56.087Z
--"We're late. When should we have left?" after leaving late is "我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?".  Would it be a different sentence if they still hadn't left i.e. still at home, late and haven't left yet?
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-29T23:30:59.857Z
@RoostyBoy Regarding "走" vs "走了", 走了 *can* be used to indicate "left", just like 吃了 can be used to indicate "ate". However, there are some nuances: "走了" (or any other action+"了") can never be used as a "question", which is the case here. "他們已經走了" ("They already left") is correct, but "他們什麼時候走了" is completely wrong. It's kind of hard to describe *exactly* why, but it's just not how it works. Sorry for the late response, BTW.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-29T23:41:38.677Z
@RoostyBoy Regarding whether or not there'll be a difference in the sentence between the situation of still hadn't left and already left but late, I will say it depends. Saying the same sentence, i.e. "我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?" will be *understandable*, but not completely correct. I think that removing "剛才" and adding "是" and "的
" will be better, i.e. "我們是應該什麼時候離開的呢?". I hope this helps!
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-31T10:59:09.020Z
Nice. 呢 ne — the only circumstances I know where to use this Is when repeating a question back to the question asker i.e "I'm well and you? — Can you please explain what its use/purpose is here in 我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-31T23:46:02.013Z
我們是應該 in this context means "we are should..."? i'll admit i don't know a lot about 是 shi
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-31T23:48:36.850Z
@RoostyBoy "是" doesn't necessarily mean "are". It is used as a generic placeholder kind of word here, adding to the meaning of "should". Basically, both "是應該" and "應該" mean "should" here in this context.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-09-01T04:16:05.217Z
appreciated. So the purpose of 是 is 1st and foremost as a placeholder and as a bonus it also boosts the meaning of the following word? Are you able to give a brief rule on this or is it something hard to explain that you only get a sense of when youre familiar with mandarin?
Roosty Boy
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2024-09-01T23:15:25.960Z
"Subj. + 是 + [Information to be Emphasized] + Verb + 的

This classic pattern is the one for emphasizing certain details about events in the past. It's often used to ask pointed questions about past events, and then to answer those questions. Usually, the situation is already established, and the speakers are trying to get more specific clarification, such as when, where, or how the action took place. When this is the case, the phrase that follows the 是 is the part of the situation that is being emphasized. "  resources.allsetlearning.com THIS IS WHAT YOU DID?
Roosty Boy
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2024-09-01T23:47:56.193Z
@RoostyBoy What does "THIS IS WHAT YOU DID?" mean? Are you angry at me for some reason? Sorry if I did make you mad.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-09-03T06:23:09.727Z
No you have been awesome. I did it in capitals to stand out as my post was quite long.
Roosty Boy
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2024-09-03T09:51:28.343Z
What I posted was from a website saying one way that 是 + 的 can be used. I was asking if what they are saying (the first part of my post) was the same reason (or what you were trying to do) for 我們是應該什麼時候離開的呢?
Roosty Boy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-27T06:51:21.217Z
2024-08-27T06:51:21.217Z
Admirer of the dragon flag
<p>我們几点走? = What time are we leaving? = When are we going?</p>
<p>我們几点走? = What time do we leave? = When do we go?</p>
<p>我們要/該几点走? = What time shall we leave? = When shall we go?</p>
<p>我們(是)几点走的? = What time did we leave? = When did we leave?</p>
<p>Note that the sentence &quot;我们 什么时候走了&quot; is incorrect - as 了 is used to indicate the change of state or the completion of an event/action, here, nothing has changed, nor completed. You can use 了 in the following situations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>我们走了 - We are going (to leave).</p>
</li>
<li><p>我们應該走了 - We shall leave (now).</p>
</li>
<li><p>我们已經走了 - We have left already.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>ADD:</strong> Example uses of &quot;的&quot;, &quot;了&quot; and &quot;了嗎?&quot;.</p>
<p>In the morning after a late-night party, a short conservation went like this:</p>
<p><strong>Husband</strong>: 昨晚我們(是)什麼時候走/離開<strong>的</strong>? - When did we leave last night? (The phrase &quot;什麼時候?&quot; indicates the uncertainty of when the action was completed, &quot;了&quot; can only be used to indicate the completion of action with certainty.)</p>
<p><strong>Wife</strong>: 我們九點就走/離開<strong>了</strong>. - We left at nine o'clock. (&quot;了&quot; indicates completion of the action with certainty - at nine o'clock..)</p>
<p><strong>Husband</strong>: 我們那麼早就走/離開<strong>了</strong>嗎? - Did we leave that early? (The phrase &quot;那麼早&quot; indicates the instance/certainty of completion of the action - that early. However, the particle &quot;嗎&quot; must be added at the end to form the inquiring sentence, usually a yes/no question.)</p>

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2024-08-26T22:11:32.400Z
Good answer, but since the question is extremely unclear, it's best to not answer yet until it has been improved.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-26T23:15:22.667Z
Agree that the question is very vague. We shall see, hopefully.
r13
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2024-08-27T01:09:24.750Z
Yeah, I can't (yet) think of any possible improvements. What kind of edit do you think will make the question better? It's a few hours now, and OP doesn't seem to know how to improve the post, so I guess we should try to improve it. Any ideas?
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T01:21:59.440Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag I have tidied the question now, thanks
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-27T01:23:20.730Z
@r13 when you put = What time are we leaving? = When are we going? >> is the left phrase the LITERAL interpreation and the right phrase is what it ACTUALLY MEANS to be taken as? cheers
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-27T01:24:08.173Z
@RoostyBoy Ok, but does my edit help?
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T01:26:47.573Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag im new to stack exchange. you can edit my question?
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-27T01:27:27.820Z
@RoostyBoy I already edited it five minutes ago.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T01:28:06.233Z
@RoostyBoy Are you not happy with me editing your question?
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T01:36:33.067Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag I dont mind, its just im trying to notice what has changed
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-27T01:37:32.387Z
@RoostyBoy I'm not sure, but I don't think you can see my edit until it has been approved by even more trusted users.
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T01:41:44.527Z
@RoostyBoy SE's editing module requires all edits made by users with rep< a certain amount to be placed in a [review queue](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/help/reviews-intro).  This "certain amount" varies from site to site. On Chinese Language.SE, it's 750 (different from most other sites). Thus, you can only see my edit after it has been approved by other users with 750 rep or more (if it's approved at all) .
Admirer of the dragon flag
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-27T01:45:55.097Z
@Admirerofthedragonflag I see it now. For #2 + #3 when I say turn into I am not actually talking about google returning translation; When I say turn into I actually mean here are phrases for things that have not happened, how do I CHANGE THEM INTO phrases for things THAT HAVE HAPPENED. For #1 it is multiple choice of which answers are correct for "when did we leave"
Roosty Boy
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2024-08-27T03:14:32.180Z
Yes, they are equal.
r13
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2024-08-27T04:02:49.760Z
@RoostyBoy OK, your post is much clearer now. Thanks for clarifying. I'll try to provide a good answer. (PS: It seems like my edit didn't get through, but it's OK since it's not as good as your own edit :) ).
Admirer of the dragon flag
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2024-08-27T05:53:25.207Z
@r13 "了 is used to indicate the change of state or the completion of an event/action" — I admit im a little confused why "我们 什么时候走了" lit. we what time (when) leave?" Is not ok but  我们走了 lit. we leave is ok — I would of though leave/leaving is an action/event. Also I have tidied up the questions to be more clear. thanks
Roosty Boy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-16T22:50:51.490Z
@r13 "正在(zhèngzài) is used when we want to show that the action is both current and still in progress". Does that mean if you are "going" or "leaving" you have to add 正在(zhèngzài) to the sentence (since you are still doing the action)? thx
Roosty Boy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-16T23:05:27.190Z
@RoostyBoy 正在 indicates an action is (right) in progress, "We are (right in the middle of) leaving" - "我們正在離開". Bonus: 正要 means "just about to".
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-26T14:49:40.920Z
2024-08-27T17:07:22.767Z
2024-08-27T17:07:22.767Z
r13
<ol>
<li><p>&quot;When did we leave?&quot;- Which of the following a,b,c,d are correct?
a) google translate says 我们什么时候离开的 wǒmen shénme shíhòu líkāi de
b) a comment from stack exchange (I cant login/comment back) says 我们  什么时候走的 wǒmen shénme shíhòu zǒu de
c) should it be-- 我们 是 什么时候走的 wǒmen shì shénme shíhòu zǒu de? (add in shì before shénme)
OR d) 我们  什么时候走了 wǒmen shénme shíhòu zǒu le?</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;what time are we leaving?&quot; 我們几点走 &gt;&gt; How to change into &quot;what time did we leave&quot;= ??</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;When should we leave?&quot; is 我們什麼時候離開？ &gt;&gt; What does this change into for somethin that has happened (past tense)?? Does this have a completed state i.e. &quot;when should we have left?&quot; thanks</p>
</li>
</ol>

<mandarin><past-tense>
Turning a few phrases into completed state i.e. past tense
# Turning a few phrases into completed state i.e. past tense

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-26)

1. "When did we leave?"- Which of the following a,b,c,d are correct?
   a) google translate says 我们什么时候离开的 wǒmen shénme shíhòu líkāi de
   b) a comment from stack exchange (I cant login/comment back) says 我们 什么时候走的 wǒmen shénme shíhòu zǒu de
   c) should it be-- 我们 是 什么时候走的 wǒmen shì shénme shíhòu zǒu de? (add in shì before shénme)
   OR d) 我们 什么时候走了 wǒmen shénme shíhòu zǒu le?
2. "what time are we leaving?" 我們几点走 >> How to change into "what time did we leave"= ??
3. "When should we leave?" is 我們什麼時候離開？ >> What does this change into for somethin that has happened (past tense)?? Does this have a completed state i.e. "when should we have left?" thanks

**Tags:** mandarin, past-tense


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-08-27. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

First, I'll state here that Chinese does not have much of a concept of a past tense version of a word/phrase. Instead of adding "-ed" as suffix or changing some words entirely (i.e., sleep->slept, run->ran, etc...) as in English, when using Chinese you add *entire words* to signify that an action or event happened in the past. Let's use a simple example:

The English sentence "I am going to the store" roughly translates to "我要去商店". This is in the present tense.

The past tense of the above sentence would be "I went to the store" in English. In Chinese, we use "去過", "已經", or the even more obscure "去了" to indicate that we are talking about past tense here. Essentially speaking, we use additional adjectives and adverbs (usually the latter) to describe that an event *"had happened"*, instead of *"is happening"*. Also, it's not just past tense, either. The same goes for all [12 tenses in English](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/tenses-in-english/), including the past, current/present, and future tense general categories and their respective sub-tense (present simple, perfect, continuous, etc... won't list all twelve here). We add words like "已經", "過", "了", "曾經", for past, "待會", "會", "要" for future, and "正", "正在" for the present. Note that most of these words and phrases used to describe tense are also not exclusive to describing tense, either. They all have their respective meanings and can be used elsewhere in other contexts.

Now, let's move on to your sentences and their Chinese translations:

* "When did we leave?":

  + "我们什么时候离开的 " is correct. Here, the past tense is "inferred" by the whole sentence itself, rather than a specific word or phrase.
  + "我们什么时候走的" is basically correct, but is slightly less formal than the one above. The problem here have nothing to do with past tense, though. It's that "走" is more informal than "离开", and more likely to be heard in casual conversations than in written text. The difference is minor, though, and this sentence is also essentially correct.
  + "我们是什么时候走的" is also correct. It means the same thing as the one above, but with added clarity since the word "是" is added.
  + "我们什么时候走了" is incorrect. Although correct usage of "了"
    as an indicator of past tense is extremely similar to this one, there's a subtle difference. "了" is usually used to represent a change, completion of an event or action, finalization of an action, or ending of a condition. Since the sentence here is a question about something that had already happened and had not changed since then, "了" can't be used here.
* "what time are we leaving?": To make it past tense, the best option is similar to the above sentences: "我們是几点走的" or "我們剛才是几点走的" to be more clear.
* "When should we leave?": There's no past tense here, since "should" implies that it have not happened yet. However, if what you actually meant is "We're late. When should we have left?" after leaving late, then the correct Chinese corresponding sentence would be "我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?".

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: thx for the info, I'll have to lookup the relevent pinyin and add it to my notes. So 走 (to leave) cannot be changed into "left" with 走了? i.e. 了CANNOT change "leave" into "left" BUT it can change "eat" into "ate", correct? By the way 我走了 wo zǒule — how do you possibly figure out which of "walk/leave/move/run” it means when the rest of the sentence wont give a clue to which one you mean i.e I walk/I leave/I run?  
> **username_0**: --"We're late. When should we have left?" after leaving late is "我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?".  Would it be a different sentence if they still hadn't left i.e. still at home, late and haven't left yet?  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy Regarding "走" vs "走了", 走了 *can* be used to indicate "left", just like 吃了 can be used to indicate "ate". However, there are some nuances: "走了" (or any other action+"了") can never be used as a "question", which is the case here. "他們已經走了" ("They already left") is correct, but "他們什麼時候走了" is completely wrong. It's kind of hard to describe *exactly* why, but it's just not how it works. Sorry for the late response, BTW.  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy Regarding whether or not there'll be a difference in the sentence between the situation of still hadn't left and already left but late, I will say it depends. Saying the same sentence, i.e. "我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?" will be *understandable*, but not completely correct. I think that removing "剛才" and adding "是" and "的 " will be better, i.e. "我們是應該什麼時候離開的呢?". I hope this helps!  
> **username_0**: Nice. 呢 ne — the only circumstances I know where to use this Is when repeating a question back to the question asker i.e "I'm well and you? — Can you please explain what its use/purpose is here in 我們剛才應該什麼時候離開呢?  
> **username_0**: 我們是應該 in this context means "we are should..."? i'll admit i don't know a lot about 是 shi  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy "是" doesn't necessarily mean "are". It is used as a generic placeholder kind of word here, adding to the meaning of "should". Basically, both "是應該" and "應該" mean "should" here in this context.  
> **username_0**: appreciated. So the purpose of 是 is 1st and foremost as a placeholder and as a bonus it also boosts the meaning of the following word? Are you able to give a brief rule on this or is it something hard to explain that you only get a sense of when youre familiar with mandarin?  
> **username_0**: "Subj. + 是 + [Information to be Emphasized] + Verb + 的  This classic pattern is the one for emphasizing certain details about events in the past. It's often used to ask pointed questions about past events, and then to answer those questions. Usually, the situation is already established, and the speakers are trying to get more specific clarification, such as when, where, or how the action took place. When this is the case, the phrase that follows the 是 is the part of the situation that is being emphasized. "  resources.allsetlearning.com THIS IS WHAT YOU DID?  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy What does "THIS IS WHAT YOU DID?" mean? Are you angry at me for some reason? Sorry if I did make you mad.  
> **username_0**: No you have been awesome. I did it in capitals to stand out as my post was quite long.  
> **username_0**: What I posted was from a website saying one way that 是 + 的 can be used. I was asking if what they are saying (the first part of my post) was the same reason (or what you were trying to do) for 我們是應該什麼時候離開的呢?  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-08-26. Score: 2

我們几点走? = What time are we leaving? = When are we going?

我們几点走? = What time do we leave? = When do we go?

我們要/該几点走? = What time shall we leave? = When shall we go?

我們(是)几点走的? = What time did we leave? = When did we leave?

Note that the sentence "我们 什么时候走了" is incorrect - as 了 is used to indicate the change of state or the completion of an event/action, here, nothing has changed, nor completed. You can use 了 in the following situations:

* 我们走了 - We are going (to leave).
* 我们應該走了 - We shall leave (now).
* 我们已經走了 - We have left already.

**ADD:** Example uses of "的", "了" and "了嗎?".

In the morning after a late-night party, a short conservation went like this:

**Husband**: 昨晚我們(是)什麼時候走/離開**的**? - When did we leave last night? (The phrase "什麼時候?" indicates the uncertainty of when the action was completed, "了" can only be used to indicate the completion of action with certainty.)

**Wife**: 我們九點就走/離開**了**. - We left at nine o'clock. ("了" indicates completion of the action with certainty - at nine o'clock..)

**Husband**: 我們那麼早就走/離開**了**嗎? - Did we leave that early? (The phrase "那麼早" indicates the instance/certainty of completion of the action - that early. However, the particle "嗎" must be added at the end to form the inquiring sentence, usually a yes/no question.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Good answer, but since the question is extremely unclear, it's best to not answer yet until it has been improved.  
> **username_2**: Agree that the question is very vague. We shall see, hopefully.  
> **username_1**: Yeah, I can't (yet) think of any possible improvements. What kind of edit do you think will make the question better? It's a few hours now, and OP doesn't seem to know how to improve the post, so I guess we should try to improve it. Any ideas?  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag I have tidied the question now, thanks  
> **username_0**: @username_2 when you put = What time are we leaving? = When are we going? >> is the left phrase the LITERAL interpreation and the right phrase is what it ACTUALLY MEANS to be taken as? cheers  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy Ok, but does my edit help?  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag im new to stack exchange. you can edit my question?  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy I already edited it five minutes ago.  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy Are you not happy with me editing your question?  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag I dont mind, its just im trying to notice what has changed  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy I'm not sure, but I don't think you can see my edit until it has been approved by even more trusted users.  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy SE's editing module requires all edits made by users with rep< a certain amount to be placed in a [review queue](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/help/reviews-intro).  This "certain amount" varies from site to site. On Chinese Language.SE, it's 750 (different from most other sites). Thus, you can only see my edit after it has been approved by other users with 750 rep or more (if it's approved at all) .  
> **username_0**: @Admirerofthedragonflag I see it now. For #2 + #3 when I say turn into I am not actually talking about google returning translation; When I say turn into I actually mean here are phrases for things that have not happened, how do I CHANGE THEM INTO phrases for things THAT HAVE HAPPENED. For #1 it is multiple choice of which answers are correct for "when did we leave"  
> **username_2**: Yes, they are equal.  
> **username_1**: @RoostyBoy OK, your post is much clearer now. Thanks for clarifying. I'll try to provide a good answer. (PS: It seems like my edit didn't get through, but it's OK since it's not as good as your own edit :) ).  
> **username_0**: @username_2 "了 is used to indicate the change of state or the completion of an event/action" — I admit im a little confused why "我们 什么时候走了" lit. we what time (when) leave?" Is not ok but  我们走了 lit. we leave is ok — I would of though leave/leaving is an action/event. Also I have tidied up the questions to be more clear. thanks  
> **username_0**: @username_2 "正在(zhèngzài) is used when we want to show that the action is both current and still in progress". Does that mean if you are "going" or "leaving" you have to add 正在(zhèngzài) to the sentence (since you are still doing the action)? thx  
> **username_2**: @RoostyBoy 正在 indicates an action is (right) in progress, "We are (right in the middle of) leaving" - "我們正在離開". Bonus: 正要 means "just about to".  

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