这事发生在很多年以前。

It happened a long time ago.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

=1 这 zhè
  1. (pronoun) this; these
  2. (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun)
  3. (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. zhèi, esp. in Beijing)
=1 这 zhèi (coll.) this
2 事发 shìfā
  1. (impersonal) a (bad) incident occurs
  2. a (bad) incident occurs
3 生 shēng
  1. to be born
  2. to give birth
  3. life
  4. to grow
  5. raw
  6. uncooked
  7. student
4 在 zài
  1. to exist; to be alive
  2. (of sb or sth) to be (located) at
  3. (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
5 很多 hěnduō many; much; a lot
=6 年 Nián surname Nian
=6 年 nián year

classifier: 個
=6 年 nián
  1. grain
  2. harvest (old)
  3. variant of 年 nián
7 以前 yǐqián
  1. before
  2. formerly
  3. previous
  4. ago