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ChineseGrammarWiki


			
				
					
						
						
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<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 了 (le) to express that time duration.</p>
<h2 id="basic-usage">Basic Usage</h2>
<h3 id="structure">Structure</h3>
<p>Saying <em>how long</em> you did something <em>for</em> in
Chinese can seem tricky, as there is no preposition as in English.
Instead it's all about word order:</p>
<div class="jiegou">
<p>Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.</p>
</div>
<p>So 了 (le) 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="liju">
<ul>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
</ul>
</div>
<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 <em>which are no longer in
progress</em>, 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="jiegou">
<p>Subj. + [Time Word] + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.</p>
</div>
<h3 id="examples-1">Examples</h3>
<div class="liju">
<ul>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
<li>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></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>To indicate that the action is <em>definitely still in
progress</em>, 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><a href="Integrated_Chinese:_Level_1,_Part_2_(3rd_ed)" title=
"wikilink">Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed)</a> (pp.
118-9) <a href=
"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276709/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=allset-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0887276709">
→buy</a></li>
<li><a href="Chinese:_An_Essential_Grammar,_Second_Edition" title=
"wikilink">Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition</a> (pp.
90-1) <a href=
"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415372615/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=allset-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0415372615">
→buy</a></li>
<li><a href=
"40_Lessons_for_Basic_Chinese_Course_(%E5%9F%BA%E7%A1%80%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD40%E8%AF%BE%E4%B8%8A%E5%86%8C%EF%BC%89"
title="wikilink">40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course
(基础汉语40课上册）</a> (p. 173)<a href=
"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FTL8D8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001FTL8D8&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=allset-20">→buy</a></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="Category:A2_grammar_points" title=
"wikilink">Category:A2 grammar points</a></p>
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