Expressing that something has already happened with "laizhe"

来着 is an auxiliary word placed at the end of a sentence to express that something has already happened.

General use of "来着" in the sentence

Structure

来着 is placed at the end of the sentence. 来着 does not have a negative form, in other words, it cannot be used with 不 or 没(有). Also, when 来着 is used in a question, it can only be used with 什么, 谁, and 哪儿.

Sentence + 来着

Examples

• 昨天 有 人 来 找 你 来着 。There was someone looking for you yesterday.
• 那 本 书 昨天 还 在 这儿 来着，今天 怎么 找 不到 了 ？That book was here yesterday. Why can't I find it today?
• 他 叫 什么 来着？Tā jiào shénme láizhe?What was his name again?
• 那 首 歌 是 谁 唱 的 来着 ？Who sang that song again?
• 我们 上 次 说 周末 去 哪儿 玩 来着 ？Where is it that we said we are going to this weekend?

Special phrase "I told you so" with 来着

来着 is used in a common expression similar to "didn't I tell you!?," used when the speaker wants to prove that they are right about something. The phrase is "我说什么来着."

Examples

• 我 说 什么 来着！你 一 吃 火锅 就 拉 肚子！I told you so! You have a diarrhea every time you eat hotpot!
• 我 说 什么 来着！这 个 东西 肯定 是 假的！I told you so! This thing must be fake!
• 我 说 什么 来着！他 不 是 真的 喜欢 你！I told you so! He is not really into you!
• 我 说 什么 来着！他们 会 回来 的。I told you so! They would come back.

Sources and further reading

Books

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Elementary (汉语口语速成基础篇)(p.107) →buy

• Home With Kids1 (家有儿女1)(p.29) →buy

• Exemplification of Common Sentence Patterns in Spoken Chinese 汉语口语常用句式例解 （p.268)→buy

HSK6