How to express: a narrator is narrating an event in the past, and wants to describe an event 2 years before that

Question

In English this is very easy to express, but I'm struggling to express it in Chinese. I've asked multiple natives and they are all struggling with this (much to everyone's surprise).

Basically, you have the following situation: a story with a narrator explaining some events in the past. The events are happening during some time during the narrators high school years. The narrator at one point wants to explain the equivalent of: "Two years before I had gotten a bad sickness, which is why I drank so much water."

We have all sort of thought up the following:

在那之前的两年……

but the problem with this is that in Chinese if you use this it's unclear whether the event was 2 years before, or sometime during those 2 years. It's a duration, not a specific time.

Is there any way to express "2 points before some ambiguous time"? I don't want to have to resort to absolute times for everything. Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

In my opinion,

• 在［那事］之前的兩年……
• 在［那事］的前兩年……

both mean during the two years before［那事］. Compare

• 在［那事］之後的兩年……
• 在［那事］的後兩年……

During the two years (immediately) after［那事］

I suggest

在［發生Ｘ］的兩年前， 。。。。。。

Two years before X happened, ...

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Another technique, which is perhaps not strictly the answer you're looking for, is to make the context very clear in a printed book. Specifically, an occasional first-person narrative should be actually using a different font, akin to English novels sometimes using italics.

Excerpt from a digital edition of 紅樓夢 from 國立臺灣大學中文系 (source). The main body of the text is in Song/Ming Typeface, while direct quotes are given in a regular script typeface.

I believe this is why it is difficult for native speakers to answer your query. Printed books may employ the following font styles for different parts of the text:

• Song/Ming typeface for the main body;
• Regular script typeface for quotes, or a short segment indicating first-person narratives;
• Imitation Song typeface for annotations.

In your case, all that's needed for clarification is to print the narration in regular script, and simply write “兩年之前，。。。。。。”.

Answer 2

a "traditional" approach, using the sexagenary cycle (干支); in which 干支 was used to indicating year.

the events are happening during some time during the narrators high school years

supposed it's 2010-2016, which would be

2010 - "庚寅年"

2011 - "辛卯年"

2012 - "壬辰年"

2013 - "癸巳年"

2014 - "甲午年"

2015 - "乙未年"

2016 - "丙申年"

used this sexagenary cycle to mark your events,

two years before I had gotten a bad sickness, which is why I drank so much water

two year before your high school years, it would be 2008 (戊子年)

then, write somethings like:

戊子歲．予罹重病．癒以飲水之方．至今遵之

in which 戊子 is two "entries" before "庚寅", so, reader should understand that you inserted an event two years prior to your high school years.

have fun :)

Answer 3

I'll put as below:

Two years before I had gotten a bad sickness -- 我患重病前的两年之前 // 2 years before

我患重病前的前两年 // within those 2 years or sometime during those 2 years

Answer 4

As drooze mentioned 在那之前的两年 would probably be interpreted as during the two years before/in the two years before.

I think the best way to resolve the ambiguity would be to say something like:

那件事发生之前,大概两年前，。。。