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:

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 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.
• 我 昨天 看 了 一晚上 书。Wǒ zuótiān kàn le yī wǎnshang shū. I had been reading books all evening 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 五 个 小时 飞机 去 美国。Wǒmen zuò le shí wǔ ge xiǎoshí fēijī qù měiguó. 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。 Nǐ gāngcái shàng le bàn ge xiǎoshí cèsuǒ. You just went to the bathroom for half an hour.
• 上 个 周末 我 和 老公 开 了 三 个 小时 车 回 老家。 Shàng ge zhōumò wǒ hé lǎogōng kāi le sān ge xiǎoshí chē huí lǎojiā. My husband and I drove back home for three hours last weekend.
• 昨天 晚上 我 加 了 两个 小时 班。 Zuótiān wǎnshang wǒ jāi le liǎng ge xiǎoshí bān. Yesterday evening I worked two extra hours.
• 他 今天 上 了一天 网。 Tā jīntiān shàng le yītiān wǎng. He went online all day today.
• 昨天 爸爸 跟 妈妈 吵 了 一 晚上 架。 Zuótiān bàba gēn māma chǎo le yī wǎnshang jià. Dad was quarreled with mom all evening yesterday .

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