Does the 了 (le) particle indicate past tense?

Answer 1

了 has a lot of different functions including the past tense as answered above, but for example, called completed action 了. More technically, it's called the perfective aspect 了.

eg: 我卖了这些车以后，我就会有很多钱。

Wǒ mài le zhèxiē chē yǐhòu, wǒ jiù huì yǒu hěnduō qián.

After I've sold these cars, I'll have a lot of money.

了also has a different pronunciation Liao. It also has some different functions

Answer 2

It indicates either past tense or the completion of an action.

For example:

1. 他回家了。--past tense.
2. 我吃过了。I have already eaten/ completion of an action

Answer 3

I would say the answer is YES and NO. Why?

Mandarin Chinese does not have any verb conjugations as English to express tense. All verbs have a single form. How do we express tense in Chinese? There are couple strategies.

1, state the time, e.g. 昨天我加班。(I worked overtime yesterday.)

2, use “V+过” to express past experience. e.g. 我吃过北京烤鸭.（I have eaten Peking duck.）

3, using “V+ particle 了” to complete actions.

  　e.g. 你吃早饭了吗？--我吃了。(Did you have breakfast? –I ate.)

Thus, in this scenario, the particle 了 indicates that the action occurred in the past and has been completed. That’s why I said the answer is YES.

However, particle 了 also indicates other things, such as the happening of something, the emergence of a circumstance and the change of a situation. It is used at the tail of a sentence, indicating an affirmative.

Eg,   他跟家人去上海了。（He went to Shanghai with his family.）

        孩子已经睡着了。( The baby fell asleep. He was awake.)

       下雨了,我们回去吧。（It started raining, and let’s go home.）

        我18岁了。(I turn to 18. I am not 17 anymore)

In addition, particle 了 indicates an act is about to take place. There are couple fixed phases to express this. Such as: 要…了/就要…了/ 快要…了/快…了

Eg, 1，她要走了。(She is going to leave.)

       2，他就要大学毕业了。 （He is about to graduate from college. He is a senior）

       3, 圣诞节快要到了，我想给家人买些礼物。

                      （Christmas is coming. I want to buy some gifts for family. ）

       4，你妈妈快来了，别着急。(Your mom is coming. Don’t worry. )

In these scenarios, none of them indicates past actions. On the contrary, they indicate actions occurring in the future. Therefor the answer is NO.

Hope the answer helps you guys have a better understanding of particle 了. Thanks.

Answer 4

1）verb+了：past tense. 下了雨(the rain has passed, no rain anymore now.)

2) the end of sentence: the thing is happening which is different from the status before. 下雨了（it is raining now. indicating that the weather has changed.)

Answer 5