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:

<div class="jiegou">
Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.

</div>
So 了 (le) is placed after the verb (to indicate that [the action is
completed](Expressing_completion_with_"le" "wikilink")), followed by the
duration. This is how you talk about the duration of completed actions.

### Examples

<div class="liju">
-   他 学 了 <em>一 年</em> 中文。<span class="pinyin">Tā xué le <em>yī
    nián</em> Zhōngwén.</span><span class="trans">He studied Chinese for
    a year.</span>
-   我 看 了 <em> 一 个 晚上</em> 书。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ kàn le
    <em> yī gè wǎnshang</em> shū.</span><span class="trans">I read books
    all evening.</span>
-   妈妈 看 了 <em>一 天</em> 电视。<span class="pinyin">Māma kàn le
    <em>yī tiān</em> diànshì.</span><span class="trans">Mom watched TV
    all day.</span>
-   他 在 Google 做 了 <em>八 年</em> 经理。 <span class="pinyin">Tā zài
    Google zuò le <em>bā nián</em> jīnglǐ.</span><span class="trans">He
    worked as a manager at Google for eight years.</span>
-   我们 坐 了 <em>十五 个 小时</em> 飞机 去
    美国。<span class="pinyin">Wǒmen zuò le <em> shíwǔ gè xiǎoshí</em>
    fēijī qù Měiguó.</span><span class="trans">We took a fifteen hour
    flight to the United States.</span>

</div>
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](Time_words_and_word_order "wikilink") may be
inserted into the sentence to indicate that you're talking about an
event in the past:

<div class="jiegou">
Subj. + \[Time Word\] + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.

</div>
### Examples

<div class="liju">
-   昨天 他 写 了 <em> 一 天</em> 作业。<span class="pinyin">Zuótiān tā
    xiě le <em>yī tiān</em> zuòyè.</span><span class="trans"> He did his
    homework all day yesterday.</span>
-   我 刚才 打 了 <em>半 个 小时</em> 电话。 <span class="pinyin">Wǒ
    gāngcái dǎ le <em>bàn gè xiǎoshí</em>
    diànhuà.</span><span class="trans">I was on the phone for half an
    hour.</span>
-   他 今天 喝 了 <em>一 个 晚上</em> 酒。 <span class="pinyin">Tā
    jīntiān hē le <em>yī gè wǎnshang</em>
    jiǔ.</span><span class="trans">He drank alcohol all night.</span>
-   我 昨天 玩 了 <em> 一 个 下午</em> 游戏。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ
    zuótiān wán le <em>yī gè xiàwǔ</em>
    yóuxì.</span><span class="trans">Yesterday, I played games all
    afternoon.</span>
-   上 个 周末 我 和 老公 开 了 <em>三 个 小时</em> 车 回
    老家。<span class="pinyin">Shàng gè zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le
    <em>sān gè xiǎoshí</em> chē huí
    lǎojiā.</span><span class="trans">Last weekend, my husband and I
    drove three hours to our hometown.</span>

</div>
To indicate that the action is *definitely still in progress*, use a
[slightly different
pattern](Expressing_ongoing_duration_with_double_"le" "wikilink").

See also
--------

-   [Expressing duration of
    inaction](Expressing_duration_of_inaction "wikilink")
-   [Uses of le](Uses_of_le "wikilink")

Sources and further reading
---------------------------

### Books

-   [Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2
    (3rd ed)](Integrated_Chinese:_Level_1,_Part_2_(3rd_ed) "wikilink") (pp.
    118-9)
    [→buy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276709/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0887276709)
-   [Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second
    Edition](Chinese:_An_Essential_Grammar,_Second_Edition "wikilink") (pp.
    90-1)
    [→buy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415372615/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0415372615)
-   [40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course
    (基础汉语40课上册）](40_Lessons_for_Basic_Chinese_Course_(基础汉语40课上册） "wikilink") (p.
    173)[→buy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FTL8D8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001FTL8D8&linkCode=as2&tag=allset-20)

[Category:A2 grammar points](Category:A2_grammar_points "wikilink")