动词在行动
Dòngcí zài xíngdòng — Verbs in Action
The grammar unit of Grade 4, and one of the most important in the program. Chinese verbs never change form — instead three small words say how an action sits in time. Once this clicks, students can talk about anything that already happened.
No tenses — aspect instead
English changes the verb: eat, ate, eaten, eating. Chinese leaves 吃 alone forever and adds a marker:
我吃了。 — I ate / I’ve eaten. Completed.
我在吃。 — I’m eating right now. Ongoing.
我吃过。 — I’ve tried it before. Experienced.
Three words cover what English needs a dozen verb forms for. Students usually find this a relief once they stop looking for a past tense that isn’t there.
Unit objectives
- Use 了 to report a completed action
- Use 在 for something happening now
- Use 过 for something tried at some point
- Negate a completed action with 没, not 不
- Narrate yesterday in five sentences
The trap worth naming early
了 marks completion, not past time. These are both about yesterday, and only one takes it:
昨天我吃了饺子。 Yesterday I ate dumplings. ✓
昨天我很高兴。 Yesterday I was happy. — no 了, it’s a state
Five lessons on three small words
了 — it’s done
Completed actions, practised by reporting what just happened in the room a minute ago.
在 — happening now
Live commentary: one student mimes, the class narrates what they’re doing as they do it.
过 — ever tried it
“Have you ever…?” — a class survey of foods eaten, places visited, things attempted.
Saying it didn’t happen
没 replaces 不 for completed actions — and 了 disappears when it does.
What I did yesterday
Five written sentences narrating a real past day — the first time students can do this at all.
Expect over-use, then correction
Almost every learner goes through a phase of sticking 了 onto anything that happened in the past, including states and feelings where it doesn’t belong. This is a normal and even encouraging stage — it means the student has grasped the concept and is now over-applying it, which is exactly how rules get learned. Correct it lightly and consistently rather than re-teaching the whole idea. It usually settles within a term.
Unit 7 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child say what they ate for breakfast, using 了?
- Can they say what someone is doing right now?
- Do they use 没 when saying something didn’t happen?
This unit unlocks Grade 7’s entire narrative year. It’s worth spending an extra week on if it hasn’t landed.