{"id":3319,"date":"2019-11-11T04:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T04:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/chinese-grammar-ever-since-with-yilai-yi-lai\/"},"modified":"2019-11-11T04:49:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T04:49:20","slug":"chinese-grammar-ever-since-with-yilai-yi-lai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/my\/chinese-grammar-ever-since-with-yilai-yi-lai\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese grammar: ever since with yilai\u4ee5\u6765"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are a few ways to express "ever since" in Chinese. In English, we would say something like "ever since I came to Shanghai, my Chinese has improved a lot." In this article, we will first take a look at using \u4ee5\u6765 (y\u01d0lái) to mean "ever since". We will also take a quick look at using "ever since" with \u6765 \uff08lái), which is similar but used in a somewhat different way.<\/p>\n

Structure with \u4ee5\u6765<\/strong>
Basic form<\/strong>
To express "ever since", all one needs to do is put "\u4ee5\u6765" (y\u01d0lái) after a specific event or time. It expresses what has happened since the event spoken until the time that the speaker talks (in other words, referring to a certain time period).<\/p>\n

This grammar patter is usually used to start a statement.
time or event+\u4ee5\u6765<\/p>\n

Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dào shàn\u0261 h\u01cei y\u01d0 lái , t\u0101 de hàn y\u01d4 shu\u01d0 pín\u0261 tí \u0261\u0101o le.
\u5230 \u4e0a\u6d77 \u4ee5\u6765 \uff0c\u4ed6 \u7684 \u6c49\u8bed \u6c34\u5e73 \u63d0\u9ad8 \u4e86\u3002<\/div>\n
Ever since he came to Shanghai, his Chinese has been improving.<\/div>\n

Form with \u81ea, \u4ece or \u81ea\u4ece<\/strong>
When you need to use \u4ee5\u6765 in a more formal or written context, you can add \u81ea, \u4ece or \u81ea\u4ece (or other similar words) before the time or event.
\u81ea\/\u4ece\/\u81ea\u4ece+time or event +\u4ee5\u6765<\/p>\n

Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zìcón\u0261 w\u01d2 ná dào jià zhào y\u01d0 lái y\u01d0 j\u012bn\u0261 y\u01d2u w\u01d4 nián le.
\u81ea\u4ece \u6211 \u62ff\u5230 \u9a7e\u7167 \u4ee5\u6765 \u5df2\u7ecf \u6709 \u4e94 \u5e74 \u4e86\u3002<\/div>\n
I’ve had my license for five years.<\/div>\n

Structure with \u6765<\/strong>
Using \u6765 to mean "ever since" is basically the same as "\u4ee5\u6765", however, there is one key difference: you can o<\/em>nly use \u6765 after a time interval. In other words, it needs to be used with a certain number of years, months, days, hours etc. In English this would be like saying "ever since three days ago, I have co<\/em>nstantly had a headache." It doesn’t have to be a specific number either, it could be "a few" (\u51e0).<\/p>\n

This form cannot be used with \u81ea, \u4ece or \u81ea\u4ece (or other similar words).
time interval +\u6765<\/p>\n

Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

W\u01d4 nián lái , wù jià yì zhí shàn\u0261 zh\u01cen\u0261.
\u4e94 \u5e74 \u6765\uff0c\u7269\u4ef7 \u4e00\u76f4 \u4e0a\u6da8\u3002<\/div>\n
Ever since five years ago, prices have been going up.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n