Understanding the Use of （自）⋯⋯以来 in Chinese

The structure （自）⋯⋯以来 is used in Chinese to indicate a starting point in time from which an action or state has continued up to the present. The word 自 means "since" or "from," and it can be omitted in casual speech. This construction is often used to express ongoing situations or actions that began at a specific time in the past.

Structure:

• 自 + time expression + 以来: This is the complete form, where "自" introduces the starting point.
• 时间 + 以来: This is the abbreviated form, omitting "自."

Usage:

1. Indicating Time: It specifies when an action or state began.
2. Continuity: It emphasizes that the action or state has been ongoing since that time.

Examples:

1. 自去年以来，我一直生活在北京。
2. "Since last year, I have been living in Beijing."

3. This sentence indicates that the speaker started living in Beijing last year and continues to do so.

4. 上大学以来，他一直坚持学习中文。

5. "Since starting university, he has been consistently studying Chinese."

6. Here, the focus is on the ongoing effort to study Chinese that began when he entered university.

7. 自有了孩子以来，她每天都很忙。

8. "Since having a child, she has been very busy every day."
9. This example shows that her busy schedule started after she became a parent and continues to the present.

In summary, （自）⋯⋯以来 is a useful grammatical structure in Chinese for expressing actions or states that have been ongoing since a specific point in time.