"过去三个月我在德国工作。"
Translation:For the past three months I was working in Germany.
35 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
712
If the action is continuing, it should be, "for the past three months I have been working in Germany". We really need the present perfect continuous so the sentence has the correct aspect.
276
I'm a native speaker and I agree with you. Without further context, I'd guess that the speaker is no longer working in Germany, e.g. 过去三个月我在德国工作(,现在回国了). If the speaker is still working in Germany, they should rephrase it like 最近三个月我一直在德国工作(,但打算明年回国).
57
Actually, 过 indicates something in the past. Unless otherwise stated it should probably be assumed that the speaker likely no longer works in Germany.
1617
There is a way in Chinese to say you have been doing something for a certain length of time and are still doing it.
Expressing how long you did something in the past is one thing, but what if the action is still ongoing?
Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + 了
他 在 北京 住 了 两 年 了。
Tā zài Běijīng zhù le liǎng nián le.
He has been living in Beijing for two years.
I think 过去 especially means in the past.
1346
That is not standard English syntax. Keep the elements of the compound verb (was working) together and put the locative phrase (in Germany) at the end.
1346
The meaning is different; one is not more correct than the other without context. "I have been working...(and still am)" v "I was working...(but have just returned to China)".
704
For the past three months I was in Germany working. Why it is wrong? It should be accepted
1783
i agree - probably a construction they're not used to, but there's nothing wrong with it -
1502
I am not a native speaker of English, but in the grammar lessons we learned that a "for", indicating a continuation, always necessitates a perfect tense
1346
Not always (though we usually tell students that at first.) For+past simple indicates a finished time period (we can also use from x to y). For+present perfect means the action continues (we can also use since x). e.g. I lived in Moscow for one year (but now I live in Guangzhou.) I've lived in Guangzhou for two years (and I'm here now.)