Is it correct ot use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京?

Question

Is it correct ot use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京?

我打算去北京 - I am going to go to Beijing

Will it become:

我以前打算去北京 - Before I was going to go to Beijing

Or do I need to replace "打算去北京" part to also express past tense?

Answer 1

Is it correct to use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京?

The simple answer for your question is "YES, it's correct". You can use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans.

However, your English translation below is not that right. 'Before' is not needed because 'was' already connotes the past tense (which 以前 here stands for).

我以前打算去北京 - 'Before' I was going to go to Beijing

So the correct translation should be:

我以前打算去北京 - I was going to go to Beijing

Answer 2

Is it correct to use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans

我以前打算去北京?

Yes, It is.

However, the translation for 我以前打算去北京 is not accurate.

我以前打算去北京

The word 以前 has two different meaning. It can mean either 'before (something happens'), or 'in the past'.

Here it means: I once planned to go to Beijing. (This action was in the past.)

Or: I used to want to go to Beijing.

Before I was going to go to Beijing

This sentence translates to 我去北京以前, where 以前 is used to express 'before this action happened'.

打算 can be dropped from the translation because this word sometimes implies that the action following it is in a planning stage, not necessarily going to happen.

Or do I need to replace "打算去北京" part to also express past tense?

No, because 以前 is defining the whole sentence. There is not need to change the action part of the sentence (like switch to past tense in English).

In case you're wondering, 以前打算去北京 is the past tense:p

Answer 3

Not too sure exactly what you want to say. Lets assume you want to say:

I wanted to go to Beijing, but now I am not going.

我本来打算去北京的，但是现在不想去了。

Answer 4

我打算去北京 - I am going to go to Beijing

我以前打算去北京 - I was going to go to Beijing

我打算去北京以前(...) - I want to (...) before going to Beijing.

在我打算去北京以前... - Before I was going to go to Beijing...

These are also valid:

以前的我打算去北京 - The old me was going to go to Beijing.

我打算去以前的北京 - I am going to go to the old Beijing

我打算先去北京 - I am going to go to Beijing first.

我打算去北京的以前 - I am going to go to the precursor of Beijing

Answer 5

1. 我打算去北京
   I am going to go to Beijing.
2. 我以前打算去北京
   I was going to go to Beijing before (adv.).
3. 我打算去北京以前
   Before (prep.) I am going to go to Beijing.