Expressing duration with "le"

After reading this primer on one of the many uses of 了 (le), you will have gotten a good grasp on how to express the duration of something.

Basic expression

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:

Subject + Verb + 了 + Duration + Object

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 在 大学 学 了 一 年 中文。 Tā zài dàxué xué le yī nián Zhōngwén. In the university he studied Chinese for one year.
• 昨天 我 上 了 八 个 小时 课。 Zuótiān wǒ shàng le bā ge xiǎoshí kè. I gave classes for eight hours yesterday.
• 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.
• 老板 跟 客户 开 了 一 天 会 。 Lǎobǎn gēn kèhù kāi le yī tiān huì. The boss attended a full day of meetings with clients.
• 我们 坐 了 十 几 个 小时 飞机 去 美国。 Wǒmen zuò le shíjǐge xiǎoshí fēijī qù měiguó. We rode the metro for one hour to the airport.
• 你 刚才 上 了 半 个 小时 厕所。 Nǐ gāngcái shàng le bàn ge xiǎoshí cèsuǒ. You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.
• 我 和 老公 开 了 两 个 小时 车 回家。 Wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le liǎng ge xiǎoshí chē huíjiā. My husband and I drove back home for two hours.
• 你 刚才 上 了 半 个 小时 厕所。 Nǐ gāngcái shàng le bàn ge xiǎoshí cèsuǒ. You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.
• 你 刚才 上 了 半 个 小时 厕所。 Nǐ gāngcái shàng le bàn ge xiǎoshí cèsuǒ. You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.
• 你 刚才 上 了 半 个 小时 厕所。 Nǐ gāngcái shàng le bàn ge xiǎoshí cèsuǒ. You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.

To express completed definitely

Structure

Note that the pattern above 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 completed, a time word may be inserted into the sentence to indicate that you're talking about an event in the past:

Subject + Time Word + Verb + 了 + Duration + Object

Examples

• 他 以前 在 北京 住 了 两 年 。 Tā yǐqián zài Běijīng zhù le liǎng nián. Before, I lived in Beijing for two years.
• 我 昨天 上 了 半 个 小时 网 。 Wǒ zuótiān shàng le bàn gè xiǎoshí wǎng. Yesterday I went online for half an hour.
• 我 上个 星期 做 了 三 个 小时 作业 。 Wǒ shàngge xīngqī zuò le sān gè xiǎoshí zuòyè. Last week I did three hours of homework.
• 我 以前 在 Google 做 了 八 年 经理 。 Wǒ yǐqián zài Google zuò le bā nián jīnglǐ. Before, I worked as a manager at Google for eight years.
• 我 昨天 晚上 看 了 两 个 小时 电影 。 Wǒ zuótiān wǎnshang kàn le liǎng gè xiǎoshí diànyǐng. Last night, I watched movies for two hours.
• 我 今天 开 了 一 天 会 。 Wǒ jīntiān kāi le yī tiān huì. Today, I attended a full day of meetings.
• 我 今天 早上 坐 了 一 个 小时 地铁 。 Wǒ jīntiān zǎoshang zuò le yī gè xiǎoshí dìtiě. This morning I rode the metro for an hour.
• 我 刚刚 打 了 半 个 小时 电话 。 Wǒ gānggāng dǎ le bàn gè xiǎoshí diànhuà. I just talked on the phone for half an hour.
• 我 去年 在 大学 学 了 一 年 中文 。 Wǒ qùnián zài dàxué xué le yī nián Zhōngwén. Last year at college, I studied a year of Chinese.
• 我 和 朋友 上 个 星期五 晚上 喝 了 两 个 小时 酒 。 Wǒ hé péngyou shàng gè xīngqīwǔ wǎnshang hē le liǎng gè xiǎoshí jiǔ. Last Friday night, a friend and I drank alcohol for two hours.

To indicate that the action is definitely still in progress, use a slightly different pattern.

See also

• Expressing duration of inaction
• Uses of le

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 118-9) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 90-1) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课上册） (p. 173)→buy