51.4 The Verbal Particle 過 gwo3 (‘over again’)

In Grammar and Vocabulary 9.4, we learned that we can use the aspect particle 過 gwo3 to indicate we have experience of doing an activity in the past.

We can also use 過 gwo3 as a verbal particle. The verbal particle 過 gwo3 adds the meaning of ‘over again’ to a sentence. We can use 過 gwo3 to indicate that we do an action again from the start. We usually use 過 gwo3 when we did the action once before (e.g., we bought a scarf before), but the result was not favorable (e.g., we have lost the scarf), so we need to do the action again (e.g., we buy a new scarf).