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Learn Mandarin – How to say ” The Seagulls glided across the sky” in Chinese: hai3 ou1 hua2 guo4 tian1 kong1. 海鸥滑过天空 Hai3 ou1 (海鸥 seagulls, noun) hua2 (滑 glide, verb or as aspect marker) guo4 (过 to cross, verb) tian1 kong1 (天空 sky, noun).

In this sentence, the guo4 can serve two functions: 1 As a verb which means to cross; 2 Serves as an aspect marker to show action occurred in the past.

Let’s learn about the usages of 过 guo4 and the differences between aspect markers 过 guo4 and 了le5.

过 Guo4 as past experience marker – shows action happened and ended in the past.
When guo4 is put after a verb, it means the action was done in the past. For example,

我去过中国。
Wo3 qu4 ***guo4*** zhong1 guo2.
I have been to China.

他打过保龄球。
Ta1 da3 ***guo4*** bao3 ling2 qiu2.
He has played bowling (before).

我吃过饭。
Wo3 chi1 *** guo4 *** fan4.
I have had meal.

We also know 了 le5 can serve as an aspect marker / particle to show action occurred too. So, what’s the difference between 过 guo4 and 了 le5? The differences are:

Guo4 过, the past experience maker, can only be used in past tense, but
了 le5, indicating a change of state, can be used in past, present or even future tense.

Use 了 le5 in past tense:

他打保龄球了。
Ta1 da3 bao3 ling2 qiu2 le5.
He played bowling.
This sentence means, in the past he did not play bowling, but now he does. – show the change of status.

Use 了 le5 in present tense:

我以前不会开车，现在会了。
Wo3 yi3 qian2 bu2 hui4 kai1 che1, xian4 zai4 hui4 le5.
In the past I could not drive car, but now I can.
This sentence means before I couldn’t drive, but now I can drive a car. – show the status changed.

Use 了 le5 in future tense:

如果他用功读书，他的成绩就会好了.
Ri2 guo3 ta1 yong4 gong1 du1 shu1, ta1 de5 cheng1 ji1 jiu4 hui4 hao3 le5.
If he can study hard, his grade will become good.
In the sentence, the speaker predicts something will happen if the subject can do something in certain ways. If the person can study hard, then naturally, the good grade will follow – change of status — from bad grade to good grade, so it uses le5 了, even it is future tense.

Other usages of guo4 过, verb, to cross or to pass. For example,

Wo3 guo4 shi2 zi4 lu4 kou3.
我过十字路口。
I *** crossed *** the intersection.

Guo4 le5 gan3 en1 jie2, jiu4 shi4 sheng4 dan4 jie2.
过了感恩节，就是圣旦节。
When Thanksgiving *** passed ***, Christmas came.

Ni3 kao3 shi4 guo4 le5 ma5?
你考试过了吗？
Did you *** pass *** the test?

Now, let’s listen to this lovely song. Why collide you might ask, because collide and glide rhyme?

Howie Day- Collide- With Lyrics