Expressing "before" in general with "yiqian"
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Level
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Similar to
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Used for
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Keywords
To talk about things that previously occurred, 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. To make 以前 (yǐqián) easier to understand, it can be used similarly to the English word, "before."
Structure
One way to use 以前 (yǐqián) is to start the sentence with it. This is like starting off a sentence in English with "before..." or "in the past...."
以前， Subj. + Verb + Obj.
You can also move 以前 (yǐqián) to right after the subject, and it's also correct.
Subj. + 以前 + Verb + Obj.
Examples
- 以前 我 不 会 说 中文 。 Before, I could not speak Chinese.
- 你 以前 住 在 哪儿？ Before, where did you live?
- 以前 我 不 认识 他。 Before, I didn't know him.
- 以前 你 喜欢 看 电影 吗？ Before, did you like watching movies?
- 以前 他 是 一 个 老师，现在 是 老板。 Before, he was a teacher.Now he is a boss.
- 他们 以前 没有 钱，可是 很 快乐。 Before,they didn't have much money but they were happy.
- 我男朋友 以前 在 美国 工作，现在 在 中国 工作。 Before,my boyfriend worked in America .Now he works in China.
- 我 以前 常常 跟 父母 聊天 。 Before, I often talked to my parents.
- 爸爸 以前 很 喜欢 跟 朋友 一起 旅行。 Before, dad really like traveling with friends.
- 老板 以前 常常 带 我 一起 出差。 Before, the boss often took me together on business trips.
See also
- In the future in general
- Before a specific time
- At the time when
- Before and after with "zhiqian" and "zhihou"
