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  <h1>Expressing duration with "<span class="pinyinst">le</span>" "<span class="hanzist">了</span>"</h1>

  <p>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 <span class="hanzi">了</span> (<span class="pinyin">le</span>) to express that time duration.</p>

  <h2 id="basic-usage">Basic Usage</h2>

  <h3 id="structure">Structure</h3>

  <p>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:</p>

  <div class="deux">
    <p>Subj. + Verb + <span class="hanzist">了</span> + Duration + Obj.</p>
  </div>

  <p>So <span class="hanzi">了</span> (<span class="pinyin">le</span>) is placed after the verb (to indicate that <a href="Expressing_completion_with_&quot;le&quot;" title="wikilink">the action is completed</a>), followed by the duration. This is how you talk about the duration of completed actions.</p>

  <h3 id="examples">Examples</h3>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">他 学 了 一 年 中文。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Tā xué le yī nián Zhōngwén.</span> <br/> He studied Chinese for a year.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我 看 了 一 个 晚上 书。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Wǒ kàn le yī gè wǎnshang shū.</span> <br/> I read books all evening.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">妈妈 看 了 一 天 电视。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Māma kàn le yī tiān diànshì.</span> <br/> Mom watched TV all day.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">他 在 Google 做 了 八 年 经理。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Tā zài Google zuò le bā nián jīnglǐ.</span> <br/> He worked as a manager at Google for eight years.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我们 坐 了 十五 个 小时 飞机 去 美国。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Wǒmen zuò le shíwǔ gè xiǎoshí fēijī qù Měiguó.</span> <br/> We took a fifteen hour flight to the United States.</li>
    </ul>
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  <h2 id="to-express-definitely-concluded">To Express "Definitely Concluded"</h2>

  <h3 id="structure-1">Structure</h3>

  <p>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 <a href="Time_words_and_word_order" title="wikilink">time word</a> may be inserted into the sentence to indicate that you're talking about an event in the past:</p>

  <div class="deux">
    <p>Subj. + [Time Word] + Verb + <span class="hanzist">了</span> + Duration + Obj.</p>
  </div>

  <h3 id="examples-1">Examples</h3>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">昨天 他 写 了 一 天 作业。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Zuótiān tā xiě le yī tiān zuòyè.</span> <br/> He did his homework all day yesterday.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我 刚才 打 了 半 个 小时 电话。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Wǒ gāngcái dǎ le bàn gè xiǎoshí diànhuà.</span> <br/> I was on the phone for half an hour.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">他 今天 喝 了 一 个 晚上 酒。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin">Tā jīntiān hē le yī gè wǎnshang jiǔ.</span> <br/> He drank alcohol all night.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我 昨天 玩 了 一 个 下午 游戏。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin"> Wǒ zuótiān wán le yī gè xiàwǔ yóuxì.</span> <br/> Yesterday, I played games all afternoon.</li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">上 个 周末 我 和 老公 开 了 三 个 小时 车 回 老家。</span> <br/> <span class="pinyin"> Shàng gè zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le sān gè xiǎoshí chē huí lǎojiā.</span> <br/> Last weekend, my husband and I drove three hours to our hometown.</li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <p>To indicate that the action is definitely still in progress, use a <a href="Expressing_ongoing_duration_with_double_&quot;le&quot;" title="wikilink">slightly different pattern</a>.</p>

  <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="Expressing_duration_of_inaction" title="wikilink">Expressing duration of inaction</a></li>

    <li><a href="Uses_of_le" title="wikilink">Uses of le</a></li>
  </ul>

  <h2 id="sources-and-further-reading">Sources and further reading</h2>

  <h3 id="books">Books</h3>

  <ul>
    <li>Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 118-9)</li>

    <li>Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 90-1)</li>

    <li>40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (<span class="hanzi">基础汉语40课上册</span>） (p. 173)</li>
  </ul>
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