<p>曾经 is more equivalent to &quot;once&quot; in English as in the sentence</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once we were the best friends.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is used to:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li><p>express the fact the sentence is talking about happened in the past.</p>
</li>
<li><p>if the predicate verb is a durative verb*, express that fact can't be experienced(经=experience) by the speaker(doesn't last) any more. <br>
, the speaker implies that the status is different now. In this case, it means &quot;used to&quot; as in the sentence &quot;<em>I used to be a kind man(implies now I am not)</em>.&quot; For your example, the speaker implies that he is not studying Chinese in Bejing now.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>*By &quot;durative verb&quot;, I mean the action expreesed by that verb can last for a long time. For example, &quot;study, like, look, be, work,feed, etc.&quot;. These verbs can be used in the progress tense in English(-ing form). Some other verbs can not, such as &quot;hear of, see, kick, etc.&quot; You can't say &quot; I am hearing of a terrible story&quot;, while you can say&quot; I am listening to a terrible story&quot;.</p>
<p>Can someone tell me the right grammar term if I am wrong?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T21:04:10.733Z
+1... speaking as someone who knows quite a bit about english grammar, that's a hard question you pose there. *why not ask on the english site?*
magnetar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T02:09:55.907Z
2012-01-15T02:21:24.420Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Huang
<p>Just as 已经 means "already" and emphasizes the sense of the completed action particle 了, 曾经 means "once" and emphasizes the sense of 过. I disagree with Bob that 曾经 means already here; in general "once" or "ever" is a better translation. I would render your sentence as "I once studied two years of Chinese in Beijing."</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T01:29:13.877Z
2012-01-15T01:29:13.877Z
Alf
<p>It means 'already', to add emphasis to the sentence - 'he already studied Mandarin in Beijing for two years'</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T00:12:57.850Z
So is it equivalent to 已经 in that sentence?
dusan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T01:19:11.903Z
@dusan could you please propose a new question to know the difference between them?
Huang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T01:33:03.903Z
@Huang done: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/902/13
dusan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T04:22:35.410Z
@dusan I have completed my answer. 我已经完成了答案(here, I won't say 曾经)
Huang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-18T22:16:33.167Z
Bob, could you please improve your answer? Post a translation of your example, or provide more examples.
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-15T00:08:19.057Z
2012-01-15T00:08:19.057Z
Bob
<p>In this sentence:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>他曾经在北京学过两年汉语。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>what's the role of 曾经? I understand that 过 already implies that the action happened in the past.</p>

<past-tense>
What's the role of 曾经 in 他曾经在北京学过两年汉语?
# What's the role of 曾经 in 他曾经在北京学过两年汉语?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-01-14)

In this sentence:

> 他曾经在北京学过两年汉语。

what's the role of 曾经? I understand that 过 already implies that the action happened in the past.

**Tags:** past-tense


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-01-15. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

曾经 is more equivalent to "once" in English as in the sentence

> Once we were the best friends.

It is used to:

> 1. express the fact the sentence is talking about happened in the past.
> 2. if the predicate verb is a durative verb\*, express that fact can't be experienced(经=experience) by the speaker(doesn't last) any more.   
>    , the speaker implies that the status is different now. In this case, it means "used to" as in the sentence "*I used to be a kind man(implies now I am not)*." For your example, the speaker implies that he is not studying Chinese in Bejing now.

\*By "durative verb", I mean the action expreesed by that verb can last for a long time. For example, "study, like, look, be, work,feed, etc.". These verbs can be used in the progress tense in English(-ing form). Some other verbs can not, such as "hear of, see, kick, etc." You can't say " I am hearing of a terrible story", while you can say" I am listening to a terrible story".

Can someone tell me the right grammar term if I am wrong?

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: +1... speaking as someone who knows quite a bit about english grammar, that's a hard question you pose there. *why not ask on the english site?*  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2012-01-15. Score: 2

Just as 已经 means "already" and emphasizes the sense of the completed action particle 了, 曾经 means "once" and emphasizes the sense of 过. I disagree with Bob that 曾经 means already here; in general "once" or "ever" is a better translation. I would render your sentence as "I once studied two years of Chinese in Beijing."


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### Answer by username_4 on 2012-01-15. Score: 0

It means 'already', to add emphasis to the sentence - 'he already studied Mandarin in Beijing for two years'

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So is it equivalent to 已经 in that sentence?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 could you please propose a new question to know the difference between them?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 done: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/902/13  
> **username_1**: @username_0 I have completed my answer. 我已经完成了答案(here, I won't say 曾经)  
> **username_5**: Bob, could you please improve your answer? Post a translation of your example, or provide more examples.  

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