Whether you need to express how long you lived somewhere, how long you studied astrophysics, or how long you worked as a mime, you'll need to use 了 (le) to express that time duration.

Basic Usage

Structure

Saying how long you did something for in Chinese can seem tricky, as there is no preposition as in English. Instead it's all about word order:

So 了 (le) is placed after the verb (to indicate that the action is completed), followed by the duration. This is how you talk about the duration of completed actions.

Examples

他学了 一年 中文。Tā xué le yī nián Zhōngwén.He studied Chinese for a year.
我看了 一个晚上 书。Wǒ kàn le yī gè wǎnshang shū.I read books all evening.
妈妈看了 一天 电视。Māma kàn le yī tiān diànshì.Mom watched TV all day.
他在 Google 做了 八年 经理。 Tā zài Google zuò le bā nián jīnglǐ.He worked as a manager at Google for eight years.
我们坐了 十五个小时 飞机去美国。Wǒmen zuò le shíwǔ gè xiǎoshí fēijī qù Měiguó.We took a fifteen hour flight to the United States.

To Express "Definitely Concluded"

Structure

Note that the previous pattern can be used to express the duration of completed actions which are no longer in progress, although strictly speaking, it's not entirely clear if the actions are still ongoing or not. To indicate that the actions are definitely concluded (not ongoing), a time word may be inserted into the sentence to indicate that you're talking about an event in the past:

Examples

昨天他写了 一天 作业。Zuótiān tā xiě le yī tiān zuòyè. He did his homework all day yesterday.
我刚才打了 半个小时 电话。 Wǒ gāngcái dǎ le bàn gè xiǎoshí diànhuà.I was on the phone for half an hour.
他今天喝了 一个晚上 酒。 Tā jīntiān hē le yī gè wǎnshang jiǔ.He drank alcohol all night.
我昨天玩了 一个下午 游戏。Wǒ zuótiān wán le yī gè xiàwǔ yóuxì.Yesterday, I played games all afternoon.
上个周末我和老公开了 三个小时 车回老家。Shàng gè zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le sān gè xiǎoshí chē huí lǎojiā.Last weekend, my husband and I drove three hours to our hometown.

Basic Usage

Structure

Examples

To Express "Definitely Concluded"

Structure

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books