Expressing "before" in general with "yiqian"

Using "before" in Chinese is very simple. To talk about things in the past "in general", you can use the word 以前 (yǐqián). You can use this structure to talk about actions that happened at some unspecified time in the past.

以前 before Subject

Structure

在汉语语序中，跟时间有关的词一般都置于句子的前面，所以如果你总是记不住应该放在哪里，那么句子开头是最方便的方法。

以前 + Subject + Verb + Object

Examples

• 以前 我 不 会 说 中文。Before, I could not speak Chinese.
• 以前 我 住 在 上海。Before, I lived in Shanghai.
• 以前 我 是 一 个 老师。Before, I was a teacher.
• 以前 我 不 喜欢 他。Before, I didn't like him.
• 以前 我 不 喜欢 电影。Before, I didn't like movies.
• 以前 我 没有 钱。Before, I didn't have any money.
• 以前 我 很 快乐。Before, I was very happy.
• 以前 我们 经常 聊天。Before, we often talked together.
• 以前 她 很 喜欢 笑。Before, she really liked laughing.
• 以前 我 很 爱 学习。Before, I really loved studying.

以前 after Subject

上面的结构中，“以前”都可以放在主语之后、动词之前，这也是很自然的一种语序。对整个句子的意思没有影响。

Structure

Subject + 以前 + Verb + Object

Examples

• 我 以前 不 会 说 中文。Before, I could not speak Chinese.
• 我 以前 住 在 上海。Before, I lived in Shanghai.
• 我 以前 是 一 个 老师。Before, I was a teacher.
• 我 以前不 喜欢 他。Before, I didn't like him.
• 我 以前 不 喜欢 电影。Before, I didn't like movies.
• 我 以前 没有 钱。Before, I didn't have any money.
• 我 以前 很 快乐。Before, I was very happy.
• 我们 以前 经常 聊天。Before, we often talked together.
• 她 以前 很 喜欢 笑。Before, she really liked laughing.
• 我 以前 很 爱 学习。Before, I really loved studying.

See also

• In the future in general
• Before a specific time
• At the time when
• Before and after with "zhiqian" and "zhihou"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (p. 11) →buy
• Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (p. 268) →buy

HSK3