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.

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

• 刘老师 说 课本 在 桌子 上 来着。
• 上个 周末 我 感冒，所以 我 留 在 家 里 来着。
• 昨天 有 人 来 找 你 来着。

Special phrase with 来着: "I told you so"

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."

• 我 说 什么 来着！你 不 要 吃 香肉！
• 我 说 什么 来着！我 劝告 你 不 要 买 那 个 东西，你 非 要 买。

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