Use the examples with their context and limits. Recall a sentence before reading the model. Original teaching additions accompany examples adapted from Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning, CC BY-NC-SA); see the course reference provenance.
Talk about an experience and a current action
Distinguish having done something before from doing it now.
Build the meaning
Verb + 过 can describe an experience: 我去过上海. 没去过 denies having that experience; it does not deny knowing the city’s name.
正在 + verb describes an action in progress: 我正在学习. A time expression helps identify when a different event happened.
Useful words in context
- 过 guo — experience marker. 我去过上海。
- 正在 zhèngzài — in the process of. 我正在学习。
- 去年 qùnián — last year. 我去年去过上海。
- 学习 xuéxí — study. 我正在学习中文。
- 以前 yǐqián — before. 我以前去过。
Read for meaning
王力去年去过上海。林安没去过上海。今天王力正在学习中文，林安正在看书。
Wang Li has been to Shanghai, last year. Lin An has not. Today Wang Li is studying Chinese and Lin An is reading.
Listen to a different passage
Ask a partner to read this with the script closed. Use the online practice for browser playback.
我以前去过上海。现在我正在看书。
I have been to Shanghai before. Now I am reading.
Speak and write
Ask whether a partner has been to a city, then ask what they are doing now.
Write one experience sentence and one current-action sentence.
One speaking model: A: 你去过上海吗？ B: 没去过。 A: 你现在在做什么？ B: 我正在看书。
One writing model: 我去过上海。现在我正在学习中文。
- Use 过 for the experience.
- Use 正在 for the ongoing action.
- Do not imply an experience is happening now.
Check the distinction: 过 is not an ending to add to every English past-tense verb. Here it presents an experience.