Most people like to think and talk about the past now and then. Maybe about their childhood or school days—and especially if they moved away to live in another city. If you are one of such people, learn how to talk about things that you remember, or places you used to go!
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) To reminisce about things in the past
(ii) How to talk about places you remember from when you were younger
Dialogue:
Two friends meet up in Beijing:
（在街上）
(zài jiē shàng)
(on the street)
A:两年没回来，北京变化好大啊！
Liǎng nián méi huí lái, Běi Jīng biàn huà hǎo dà a!
Haven’t been back for two years, Beijing has changed a lot!
B:是啊，这里以前是个宠物市场，现在都变成办公楼了。
Shì a, zhè lǐ yǐ qián shì gè chǒng wù shì chǎng, xiàn zài dōu biàn chéng bàn gōng lóu le.
Yes, there was a pet market here before. Now it has become an office building.
A:你还记得咱们小时候总去的那个街心公园么？
Nǐ hái jì de zán men xiǎo shí hòu zǒng qù de nà ge jiē xīn gōng yuán me?
Do you still remember the park by the street we always went to?
B:记得啊！
Jì de a!
Yes, I remember.
A:那里已经拆了，现在在建公路。
Nà lǐ yǐ jīng chāi le, xiàn zài zài jiàn gōng lù.
That place has been torn down. They’re building a road now.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
以前：before refers to a time in the past
过去：in the past
小时候：childhood, or when someone is young
变化：change
宠物市场：pet market
办公楼：office building
街心公园（儿）：literally means ‘street heart park’, it refers to a small park by the side of the street in the neighbourhood
拆：tear down, demolish
建：build
公路：road, generally refers to a road that connect cities and towns etc.
高速公路：highway
Cultural/Grammar note:
For past tense in Chinese, all you need to do is to say some words that indicate the past time. E.g. ‘以前’, ‘过去’, ‘咱们小时候’, etc.
Or you can also add ‘了’ to the end of the verb to indicate the past tense. E.g. ‘拆了’.