In a monosyllabic language like the Chinese the words themselves are never inflected, and therefore the Moods and Tenses of the Verbs are formed by the addition of auxiliary words to mark the change of meaning.
We will take the verb \{ chuh}/ (吃) to illustrate.
{ Present Tense, Simple Form}, I eat, \°ngoo chuh/ 我吃.
{ Present Tense, Continuous}, I am eating, \°ngoo leh-°li chuh/ 我拉裏吃, \°ngoo la° chuh/ 我拉吃.
{ Past Tense, Simple Form}, I ate, \°ngoo chuh kuh/ 我吃個.
{ Past Tense, Continuous}, I was eating, \°ngoo leh-la° chuh/ 我拉拉吃.
{ Past Tense, Emphatic Form}, I did eat, \°ngoo °z chuh kuh/ 我是吃個.
{ Perfect Tense}, I have eaten, \°ngoo chuh tse/ 我吃哉. \°ngoo chuh° la° tse/ 我吃拉哉, \°ngoo chuh koo° tse/ 我吃過哉.
{ Past Perfect}, I had eaten. \°ngoo °i-kyung chuh tse/ 我已經吃哉, \°ngoo °i-kyung chuh la° tse/ 我已經吃拉哉, \°ngoo °i-kyung chuh koo° hyih tse/ 我已經吃過歇哉.
{ Future Tense}, I will or shall eat, \°ngoo iau° chuh/ 我要吃.
The { Future Perfect Tense} cannot be expressed directly.
The only change for the different persons is the above will be in the use of the pronouns of the different persons.
{ Present}, Eating, \chuh/ (吃), { Past}, Having eaten, \chuh-°ts/ (吃仔).
A few words of explanation are necessary. The use of \{ leh-°li}/ and \{ leh-la°}/ are a little difficult to understand at first. As stated \{ °ngoo leh-°li chuh}/ (我拉裏吃) means, “I am eating.” If, however, a third person asked your servant \{ Sien-sang van° chuh meh?}/ (先生飯吃 末), “Has the Teacher eaten his rice?”, the servant would answer, if you were still eating, \{ yi leh-la° chuh}/ (伊拉拉吃) meaning “he is eating.” If you yourself said \{ °ngoo leh-la° chuh}/, it would mean, “I was eating.” In the Perfect Tense the word \{ koo°}/ (過) means literally “to pass over.” In the Past Perfect the words \{ °i-kyung}/ (已經) mean “already.”
The real force of \{ leh-°li}/ (拉裏) is “here,” and the real force of \{ leh-la°}/ (拉拉) is “there.”
There are a great many ways of expressing completed action in Chinese. These will be explained later. In this lesson one of the most common will be explained. It is by the use of the adjective \{ °hau}/ after the verb. Thus \{ chuh °hau tse}/ (吃好哉) means, “I have finished eating.” \{ Dok °hau tse}/ (讀好哉) means, “I have finished reading.”
\{ °Hau}/ (好), “good,” is also used before the verb to qualify it. Thus we have the expressions \{ °hau chuh kuh}/ (好吃個) meaning “good to eat.” \{ °Hau dok kuh}/ (好讀個), “Easy to read.” \{ °Hau tsoo° kuh}/ (好做個), “Easy to do,” etc.