# Sorry I wasn't able to make it



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I am trying to translate the following sentence but am having a bit of a problem/doubts about putting 能/can/able to in the past tense:

"I was busy that day so I wasn't able to make it to the event to play volleyball with you guys."
那天有事，不能（I was thinking of 没法 but it sounded a bit strong to me) 去了/不能跟你们一起去玩排球了.

I suppose I associate "没" with the past tense and "不" with the present. Can I also use “不" here for the past tense? (does the wording sound OK?)

Thanks/谢谢！


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## Alan829

那天有事，不能去了
那天有事，不能跟你们一起去玩排球了

没法去了
没法跟你们一起去玩排球了

意思都一样


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## mayingdts

of course you can.
那天我(please dont omit the sujet)有事儿(事儿 here is a 儿化音), 所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球. Dont add 了, but I dont know why. Perhaps the meaning of 未能/没能/没有 are definitely in the past.
If you want to use 没法 or 不能, you'd better say 那天我有事儿, 所以*当时*没法/不能和你们玩排球. If you dont add 当时, I will be not sure in which time you can't play with them.


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## yuechu

Thanks Alan829 and mayingdts for your replies!! I've never studied Chinese grammar before but they are very helpful (I always find myself guessing at how to properly/non-ambiguously express past tense (/other tenses, moods) meanings). I think that your 未能/没能/没有 is exactly what I was looking for! There are certain situations where even with some context, tense needs to be clearly marked (like here) or if not, then with a time expression such as 当时。

谢谢啦！


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## yuechu

Oh, by the way, would anyone know why one would not add a 了 at the end of the sentence?

那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球.

(I think I automatically tend to add it at the end fo past tense sentences without thinking about it/based on what I think "sounds good" without really understanding the phenomenon very well.. )


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## mayingdts

maybe because it's a nagetive sentence as the examples below:
我吃饭了  - positive sentence 
我没吃饭  - nagetive sentence


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## xiaolijie

mayingdts said:


> maybe because it's a nagetive sentence as the examples below:
> 我吃饭了  - positive sentence
> 我没吃饭  - nagetive sentence


我吃饭了 = positive sentence 
我不吃饭了 = negative sentence


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## mayingdts

yes...but 我没吃饭 and 我不吃饭了 are completely different.
我没吃饭= I didnt dined or I've not dined. 
我不吃饭了= I won't dine.


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## xiaolijie

> yes...but 我没吃饭 and 我不吃饭了 are completely different.


Yes, they are different (I never said they are the same!). Just wanted to show 了 can be used in a "negative stentence".


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## mayingdts

I never said you said they are the same，haha


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## xiaolijie

baosheng said:


> Oh, by the way, would anyone know why one would not add a 了 at the end of the sentence?
> 那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球.
> (I think I automatically tend to add it at the end fo past tense sentences without thinking about it/based on what I think "sounds good" without really understanding the phenomenon very well.. )


If you want to say that something DID NOT HAPPEN, then don't add 了 to it. But as you said, the temptation to add 了 is there. *So, instead of 了, add 呢, you should be fine:  
*那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球呢.


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## mayingdts

no... your sentence with the 呢 is really bizarre and makes no sense....
But for the sentence of "我没吃饭"，add a 呢 in the end has no problem.
I really dont know why. Hope somebody can give raisonable explanations.


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## xiaolijie

mayingdts said:
			
		

> 那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球呢.
> 
> 
> 
> no... your sentence with the 呢 is really bizarre and makes no sense....
Click to expand...

Really? I'm interested in hearing from other native speakers regarding this.


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## yuechu

Ah... it's because it's negative (or specifically negative using 没 opposed to 不) that one doesn't add 了。 (I must be making a lot of mistakes then!)

Thank you both for the extremely useful info!!


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## mayingdts

I dont know the reason and should not mislead you. I never learned chinese grammar.
However, I found a book of chinese grammar which you can download here http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/f/33902016.html
If you still have any doubt after reading this book, we can discuss together.


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## BODYholic

> 那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球呢.





xiaolijie said:


> Really? I'm interested in hearing from other native speakers regarding this.



The 呢 does appear to be out of place in the above sentence.

呢 is commonly used to cast doubt (你说呢？) / express uncertainty (该怎么说呢？), or to emphasize an ongoing action (我还在吃饭呢！你别来烦我。). There are others more obscure usages which I will not list them here. But you may refer to nicku or zdic.

You may say something like, 
那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球*呢*. 现在回想起，还是有点遗憾呢！(The 呢 here is used to emphasize for the fact that the feeling of lost/regret still lingers).


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## mayingdts

BODYholic said:


> You may say something like,
> 那天我有事儿，所以未能/没能/没有和你们玩排球呢. 现在回想起，还是有点遗憾呢！(The 呢 here is used to emphasize for the fact that the feeling of lost/regret still lingers).



我不了解新加坡的汉语是怎样的，但普通话的确不这样讲，这里的玩排球后是不加呢的。
手误了？


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## BODYholic

mayingdts said:


> 我不了解新加坡的汉语是怎样的，但普通话的确不这样讲，这里的玩排球后是不加呢的。
> 手误了？



It was a typographical error because of cut & paste. My sincere apology.


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## SuperXW

baosheng said:


> Hello/大家好，
> 
> I am trying to translate the following sentence but am having a bit of a problem/doubts about putting 能/can/able to in the past tense:
> 
> "I was busy that day so I wasn't able to make it to the event to play volleyball with you guys."
> 那天有事，不能（I was thinking of 没法 but it sounded a bit strong to me) 去了/不能跟你们一起去玩排球了.
> 
> I suppose I associate "没" with the past tense and "不" with the present. Can I also use “不" here for the past tense? (does the wording sound OK?)
> 
> Thanks/谢谢！


To me, the best way is 那天有事，没能/没法跟你们一起去玩排球。
不 is also good: 那天有事，不能跟你们一起去玩排球。
Adding 了 is strange. 了 usually signifies a positive statement.
Adding 呢 is strange. I don't think we have this usage of 呢.


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