Difference between revisions of "Expressing duration with "le""
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* 你 刚才 上 了 <em>半 个 小时</em> 厕所。 <span class="pinyin">Nǐ gāngcái shàng le <em>bàn ge xiǎoshí</em> cèsuǒ. </span> <span class="trans">You just went to the bathroom for half an hour. </span> | * 你 刚才 上 了 <em>半 个 小时</em> 厕所。 <span class="pinyin">Nǐ gāngcái shàng le <em>bàn ge xiǎoshí</em> cèsuǒ. </span> <span class="trans">You just went to the bathroom for half an hour. </span> | ||
* 他 今天 上 了<em>一天</em> 网。 <span class="pinyin">Tā jīntiān shàng le <em>yītiān</em> wǎng.</span> <span class="trans">He went online all day today. </span> | * 他 今天 上 了<em>一天</em> 网。 <span class="pinyin">Tā jīntiān shàng le <em>yītiān</em> wǎng.</span> <span class="trans">He went online all day today. </span> | ||
+ | * 今天 晚上 我 加 了 <em> 两个 小时 </em> 班。<span class="pinyin">Jīntiān wǎnshang wǒ jāi le <em>liǎng ge xiǎoshí</em> bān. </span> <span class="trans">I worked two extra hours toninght. </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 ge zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le <em>sān ge xiǎoshí</em> chē huí lǎojiā. </span> <span class="trans">My husband and I drove back home for three hours last weekend. </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 ge zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le <em>sān ge xiǎoshí</em> chē huí lǎojiā. </span> <span class="trans">My husband and I drove back home for three hours last weekend. </span> | ||
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* 昨天 爸爸 跟 妈妈 吵 了 <em> 一 晚上 </em> 架。<span class="pinyin">Zuótiān bàba gēn māma chǎo le <em>yī wǎnshang</em> jià. </span> <span class="trans">Dad was quarreling with mom all evening yesterday. </span> | * 昨天 爸爸 跟 妈妈 吵 了 <em> 一 晚上 </em> 架。<span class="pinyin">Zuótiān bàba gēn māma chǎo le <em>yī wǎnshang</em> jià. </span> <span class="trans">Dad was quarreling with mom all evening yesterday. </span> | ||
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Revision as of 06:04, 23 November 2015
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Keywords
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.
Contents
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:
Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.
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 学 了 一 年 中文。He studied Chinese for one year.
- 我 看 了 一晚上 书。I had been reading books all evening.
- 他 在 Google 做 了 八 年 经理。 He worked as a manager at Google for eight years.
- 老板 跟 客户 开 了 一 天 会。The boss attended a full day of meetings with clients.
- 我们 坐 了 十 五 个 小时 飞机 去 美国。We took the flight for fifteen hours to America.
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:
Subj. + [Time Word] + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.
Examples
- 你 刚才 上 了 半 个 小时 厕所。 You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.
- 他 今天 上 了一天 网。 He went online all day today.
- 今天 晚上 我 加 了 两个 小时 班。I worked two extra hours toninght.
- 上 个 周末 我 和 老公 开 了 三 个 小时 车 回 老家。My husband and I drove back home for three hours last weekend.
- 昨天 爸爸 跟 妈妈 吵 了 一 晚上 架。Dad was quarreling with mom all evening yesterday.
To indicate that the action is definitely still in progress, use a slightly different pattern.