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- <p>Saying how long you have done something is pretty simple in Chinese. Saying how long you have <em>not</em> done something is just as easy.</p>
- <h2 id="structure">Structure</h2>
- <p>Expressing how long something has <em>not</em> been done is slightly different to expressing the <a href="Expressing_duration" title="wikilink">duration of an action</a>.</p>
- <div class="jiegou">
- <p>Subj. + Duration + 没 + Verb + Obj. + 了</p>
- </div>
- <p>So now the duration comes right after the subject and 了 is at the end of the sentence. The verb has to be <a href="Negation_of_past_actions" title="wikilink">negated with 没</a>, as the action <em>hasn't</em> happened.</p>
- <h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
- <div class="liju">
- <ul>
- <li>他 已经 <em>三 天</em> 没 洗澡 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Tā yǐjīng <em>sān tiān</em> méi xǐzǎo <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">He has already gone three days without showering.</span></li>
- <li>我 <em> 两年</em> 没 抽烟 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ <em>liǎng nián</em> méi chōuyān <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">It's been two years since I smoked.</span></li>
- <li>你们 <em> 多长时间</em> 没 回家 看 爸妈 <em>了</em>？<span class="pinyin"> Nǐmen <em> duō cháng shíjiān</em> méi huíjiā kàn bàmā <em>le</em>?</span><span class="trans"> How long has it been since the last time you went back home to visit your parents？</span></li>
- <li>我爷爷 去 了 台湾 以后 已经 <em>三十年</em> 没 回家<em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin"> Wǒ yéye qù le Tàiwān yǐhòu, yǐjīng <em> sānshí nián</em> méi huíjiā <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">It's been 30 years since my grandpa left home for Taiwan.</span></li>
- <li>她 妈妈 去世 以后，她 都 <em> 两个 多 月</em> 没 出门 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin"> Tā māma qùshì yǐhòu, tā dōu <em> liǎng gè duō yuè</em> méi chūmén <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">She hasn't been out for more than two months since her mother passed away .</span></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <p>In English, we may say something like "I haven't eaten since 9:00 this morning" or "I haven't been to China since the year 2000." Note that the Chinese do not tend to say somebody hasn't done something since a <em>certain point in time</em>. Instead, you should either express it as a duration of time that one hasn't done something (as in the above examples), or you can say "the last time somebody did something was [a certain point in time]."</p>
- <div class="liju">
- <ul>
- <li>我 已经 好几 个 小时 <em>没</em> 吃 东西 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ yǐjīng hǎo jǐ gè xiǎoshí <em>méi</em> chī dōngxi <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">I haven't eaten anything in several hours.</span></li>
- <li>我 <em>上次</em> 来 中国 <em>是</em> 2000年。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ <em>shàngcì</em> lái Zhōngguó <em>shì</em> liǎngqiān nián.</span><span class="trans">The last time I came to China was the year 2000. (Same meaning as "I haven't been to China since the year 2000.")</span></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
- <ul>
- <li><a href="Expressing_duration" title="wikilink">Expressing duration</a></li>
- <li><a href="Expressing_ongoing_duration_with_double_"le"" title="wikilink">Expressing ongoing duration with double "le"</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. 231-2) <a href="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">→buy</a></li>
- </ul>
- <p> </p>
- <p><a href="Category:B1_grammar_points" title="wikilink">Category:B1 grammar points</a></p>
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