Learn Chinese - Easy mistakes to make

The difference between 了 (le) and (guo) 过

Foreigner’s often get these two words mixed up when learning Chinese. 了 and过 both indicate something that happened in the past but they are both used differently.

The easiest way to remember it is that了 is used to illustrate that an action is complete such as：

我去了 – I went

我吃了 – I’ve eaten

The word 过 is used to talk about an experience, for example:

我去过 – I’ve been (I’ve been there before)

我吃过 – I’ve eaten (I’ve eaten this before)

过 does not apply to a specific event, but simply means you have experienced something in the past. This is an easy rule to remember. It does not apply 100% to the Chinese language but is a good rule to use to help you good by.

Good luck Chinese learners,

李华