Expressing duration of inaction

Saying how long you have done something is pretty simple in Chinese. Saying how long you have not done something is just as easy.

Structure

Expressing how long something has not been done is slightly different to expressing the duration of an action.

Subj. + Duration + 没 + Verb + Obj. + 了

So now the duration comes right after the subject and 了 is at the end of the sentence. The verb has to be negated with 没, as the action hasn't happened.

Examples

• 他 已经 一个 星期 没 洗澡 了 。Tā yǐjīng yī gè xīngqī méi xǐzǎo le.He has already gone a whole week without showering.
• 他们 两 天没 吃 东西 了 。Tāmen liǎng tiān méi chī dōngxi le.They have gone two days without eating anything.
• 你 多久 没 休假 了 ？How long has it been since your last vocation?
• 我们 十 年 没 见 了 。Wǒmen shí nián méi jiàn le.It's been two years since I smoked.
• 你 多长时间 没 刮胡子 了？How long has it been since you last shaved?
• 你们 已经 两 年没 回家 过年 了 ，今年 还不 回去 ？It's been .
• 她 半 个 月 没 出门 了 。Tā bàn gè yuè méi chūmén le.It's been half a month since she last went out of the house.

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 certain point in time. 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]."

• 我 已经 好几 个 小时 没 吃 东西 了。Wǒ yǐjīng hǎo jǐ gè xiǎoshí méi chī dōngxi le.I haven't eaten anything in several hours.
• 我 上次 来 中国 是 2000年。Wǒ shàngcì lái Zhōngguó shì liǎngqiān nián.The last time I came to China was the year 2000. (Same meaning as "I haven't been to China since the year 2000.")

See also

• Expressing duration
• Expressing ongoing duration with double "le"
• Uses of le

Sources and Further Reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 231-2) →buy