Chinese word

曾

Pronunciation

Pinyincéng

Meaning

  • adverbonce

Example

我曾住在北京。wǒ céng zhù zài běi jīng

I once lived in Beijing.

Illustration for 曾 (once)

More examples

他曾担任过班长。tā céng dān rèn guò bān zhǎng

He once served as class monitor.

Core concept

A backward-looking marker that places an action or state in past experience without saying that it continues.

Common phrases

  • 曾经céng jīng

    once

  • 曾担任céng dān rèn

    once serve as

Similar words

曾经céng jīng: Shows that an action, event, or state genuinely happened or was experienced at some time in the past.
以前yǐ qián: Points to an earlier time or period, either before now or before another time under discussion.

Definition in Chinese

常置于动词前，表示过去曾有某种动作或状态的发生或经历，侧重陈述已发生但不一定持续至今的事实。cháng zhì yú dòng cí qián biǎo shì guò qù céng yǒu móu zhǒng dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài de fā shēng huò jīng lì cè zhòng chén shù yǐ fā shēng dàn bù yí dìng chí xù zhì jīn de shì shí

Word origin

曾 (céng, "once") is an inherited Classical Chinese adverb whose use for an earlier event or state remains in modern Mandarin.

Usage tips

  • A past-experience marker does not automatically mean that an event happened exactly one time; it simply places the event before the present viewpoint.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word