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English: A vs. An

365 points · 529 comments · azhenley

  1. jan_m_savage · · focus · HN ↗
    Every language has its own quirks. In Chinese, you don't have this a/an difficulty, but the grammatical tenses are so fluid that a lot of contextual cues are needed to make sense whether "I went" [zoule 走了] means I really went in the past, or I am going now (ignoring the semantic diff as well, since zou also means to pass away).
    1. samus · · focus · HN ↗
      A more natural way to see it is that Chinese does not really have tenses in the first place.
      1. jan_m_savage · · focus · HN ↗
        Actually, it does, it's just not so fixed about them.

        For instance: "I have gone", "I had gone" are said the same way, but there is a slight difference when you say "I have been going" and there is really no way to say "I had been going" unless contextual tokens are added onto.

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