Hái, "additionally," "also": You have already learned the word hái used as an adverb meaning "still." In this exchange you learn a second way to use hái.

Méiyou...le: You will remember that in the negative of a completed action, méi or méiyou replaces the completion marker le is never used together with it.

In the sentence Méiyou kè le, le is a new-situation marker, and méiyou is simply the negative of the full verb yǒu. (Remember that the verb yǒu is always made negative with méi, never with bù.)

Bù...le/méiyou...le: When the marker le for new situations is used with a negative verb, there are two possible meanings:

Thus the following sentence is ambiguous:

In the context of a conversation, the meaning of the sentence would become clear.

Here are more-examples with the "anymore" meaning:

More on duration: In Unit 6 of this module, you learned to express duration in a sentence with no object (Wǒ zài Xiāngǎng zhùle liùge yüè le. ). In this unit, you learn one way to express the duration of an activity which involves using both a verb and an object (e.g. , "studying economics"). In such cases, the verb appears twice in the sentence: first when the object is stated, and again when the duration is stated.

Notice that aspect markers do not occur after the first verb in each sentence, but only after the second verb and at the end of the second sentence.

Ne is an aspect marker used to emphasize the fact that something is in progress. With action verbs, ne indicates that the action is going on.

With state verbs, ne shows that the state exists. With some process verbs, ne indicates that the process is going on. Ne may not be used with certain process verbs. (See also notes on No. 8, about verbs.)

Xiě Zhōngguo zì: The verb xiě, "to write" can occur with specific objects, such as Zhōngguo zì, as well as with the general object zì. The combination xiě zìcan mean either "to write characters" or simply "to write."

In the reply huì yìdiǎn, huì is used as a main verb --not as an auxiliary verb, as in the question.

As a main verb, huì means "to have the skill of," "to have the knowledge of," "to know."

Qùnián wǒ hái bú huì xiě.: Notice that here it is the auxiliary verb huì, not the verb xiě, that is made negative. Auxiliary verbs such as huì and xiǎng are STATE verbs and so are made negative with the prefix bù, regardless of whether the context is past, present, or future.

Xiànzài wǒ huì xiě yìdiǎn le.: The marker used is le for new situations. It is always placed at the end of a sentence.

The time word xiànzài comes at the beginning of the sentence here. Most time words of more than one syllable may come either before or after the subject, but in either case before the verb.

The verb bìng, "to get sick," "to become ill," is a process verb; that is the activity described includes some changes in the situation. Process verbs tell of an action which has caused a change from one state to another, as from whole to broken ("to break") and from frozen to melted ("to melt"). Bìng is typical of process verbs: not only is an action described (coming down with an illness) but also a resulting state (being ill). Because of this typical combination, process verbs are sometimes thought of as combining the semantic characteristics of action and state verbs.

One of the main purposes of talking about verbs in terms of action, state, and process is to draw attention to the fact that the Chinese way of expressing something may not correspond to the English.

For instance,

"I am sick" in Chinese is Wǒ bìng le. ("I have gotten sick"). For "I am not sick," you say Wǒ méi bìng. ("I didn't get sick").

Process verbs are always made negative with m|i9 regardless of whether you are referring to past, present, or future.

(State verbs are always made negative with bù.)

Another reason for putting verbs into categories according to the type of meaning is to discover how verbs behave in sentences. Knowing whether a verb is in the action, state, or process category, you will know what aspect markers and negatives may be used with that verb. In the following charts, a check mark means that this combination of verb and aspect occurs in the language.

Examples:^[8]

Examples:

Notice that only action verbs use the whole range of negatives to mark the negative of future or present action, completed action, or new situations. State verbs use the negative prefix bù even when referring to past states. Process verbs use the negative prefix méi even when referring to something in the present.

If you find a verb occurring with a negative or an aspect marker you had not expected, you might discuss with your teacher how the verb behaves in terms of these charts. You might discover that what you thought was a state verb is actually a process verb, or vice versa.

Jīntiān hǎo le.: Hǎo is one of many state verbs which can become process verbs. When such a verb becomes a process verb, it takes on a different meaning. While the state verb hǎo means "to be good" or "to be well," the process verb hǎo means "to get better," "to recover." Compare these sentences:

The difference between the state verb hǎo and the process verb hǎo is even more evident in negative sentences. State verbs, as you remember, are made negative only with bù. Process verbs are made negative only with méi or hái méi.

It can be difficult to remember that bìng and hǎo, sometimes translated as "to be sick" and "to be better," are actually process verbs in Chinese, not state verbs.

The English sentence "I am better (recovered)" translates as Wǒ hǎo le. ("I have become veil") and would be incorrect without the le.

Jīntiān hǎo le méiyou? Questions may be formed from statements containing completion le or combined le by adding méiyou at the end of the statements.

You will learn more about forming questions in the first unit of the next module.