<blockquote>
  <p>How does it fit into the sentence "He was(is) caught in the act of stealing. " Also, how is past tense indicated here?</p>
</blockquote>

<ol>
<li><p>到 here is a <strong>result complement</strong>. 抓到 can be interpreted as <em>get caught</em> or <em>be caught</em>. In this case, it's omissible. </p></li>
<li><p>The past tense is indicated by <strong>semantics and logics</strong>. Think about: how does the speaker know and tell it if this <strong>hasn't even happened</strong> yet? The speaker is standing here and telling it is a concrete proof that it has happened, which is an indicator of the past tense. </p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-06T23:35:41.183Z
2018-09-06T23:35:41.183Z
dan
<p>Your two questions answer each other! When 到 follows a verb, it indicates that the action has successfully completed. In linguistic terminology, it's sometimes referred to as indicating "completive aspect".</p>

<p>However, when you ask "how is past tense indicated here?", you should be aware that Mandarin doesn't always indicate past tense.  There are a number of aspect markers (including 了、到、过), but none of these directly correspond to English past tense.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-06T12:55:15.400Z
2018-09-06T13:00:19.697Z
2018-09-06T13:00:19.697Z
eaglebrain
<p>I'm confused about 到 which means to arrive, or up until. How does it fit into the sentence "He was(is) caught in the act of stealing. " Also, how is past tense indicated here?</p>

<word-choice>
What is the purpose of "到" in 他在行窃时被当场抓到
# What is the purpose of "到" in 他在行窃时被当场抓到

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-06)

I'm confused about 到 which means to arrive, or up until. How does it fit into the sentence "He was(is) caught in the act of stealing. " Also, how is past tense indicated here?

**Tags:** word-choice


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-09-06. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Your two questions answer each other! When 到 follows a verb, it indicates that the action has successfully completed. In linguistic terminology, it's sometimes referred to as indicating "completive aspect".

However, when you ask "how is past tense indicated here?", you should be aware that Mandarin doesn't always indicate past tense. There are a number of aspect markers (including 了、到、过), but none of these directly correspond to English past tense.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2018-09-06. Score: 2

> How does it fit into the sentence "He was(is) caught in the act of stealing. " Also, how is past tense indicated here?

1. 到 here is a **result complement**. 抓到 can be interpreted as *get caught* or *be caught*. In this case, it's omissible.
2. The past tense is indicated by **semantics and logics**. Think about: how does the speaker know and tell it if this **hasn't even happened** yet? The speaker is standing here and telling it is a concrete proof that it has happened, which is an indicator of the past tense.


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