"她几乎迟到了！"

Translation: She was almost late!

[wbeeman]

"She almost was late" is correct, but not accepted. Please fix.

[mjhillman06]

In this sentence, how do I differentiate 了 meaning past tense ("was late") versus emphasis ("is late!!!")?

[King184867]

Chinese verbs has no tense. Therefore, when we read this Chinese sentence, we have no concept on whether it happened before or now.

But when this sentence is translated to English, you need to consider it's present or past. So, it depends on the context.

[mjhillman06]

Thanks for the explanation. This particular sentence has no context, so both interpretations should be correct, right?

[King184867]

Yes, it should be at this situation.

[KX3.]

I'm sorry, but I can't think of any situation in which this would be happening now. If she is almost late, as opposed to having been almost late, but arrived in the nick of time, then it'd be more of 她快要迟到了.

[mjhillman06]

Imagine three people are supposed to greet a VIP at the company headquarters when she arrives at 11 in the morning. It is one minute to 11, and two of the three are there. One says to the other, "Oh no, Jane is almost late! I hope she gets here in the next few seconds!"

[KX3.]

Yes, that is something like what I had in mind as well. In that situation it might be better to use the example I mentioned above.

[Hsn626796]

Excellent question

[uncannyrain]

Please allow both 他 and 她 for the people not using word bank.

[minookamuse]

Should also accept "She almost was late."

[KX3.]

That is not proper English.

[Dr_Jerry]

In what way is it not proper English?