Change of state with "le"

Also known as: 了2, change-of-state 了, sentence 了 and modal 了.

了 (le) has a lot of uses. You probably first learned 了 (le) as a particle that tells you an action is completed, which is also known as "了1". This article is not about that use of 了 (le); it's about indicating a change of state (了2). In other words, there is now a new situation, or there is about to be a new situation. This whole "change of state" idea can take numerous forms, and this page includes some good general examples.

Structure

When used in this way, 了(le) is placed at the end of the sentence to mark that the whole statement describes a new situation.

[New Situation] + 了

Examples

Some examples:

• 我 会 说 中文 了。 (I couldn't before)Wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén le .I can speak Chinese.
• 我 有 女朋友 了。 (I didn't have one before)Wǒ yǒu nǚ péngyǒu le .I have a girlfriend.
• 我 想 妈妈 了 。 (I didn't before now)Wǒ xiǎng māmā le .I miss my mom.
• 我 25 岁 了。 Wǒ èrshíwǔ suì le .I'm 25 years old.
• 我 明白 了。Wǒ míngbái le .I understand.
• 我 有 钱 了。Wǒ yǒu qián le .I have money.
• 他 笑 了。Tā xiào le .He's laughing.
• 没 有 水 了。Méiyǒu shuǐ le .We don't have any water.
• 下 雨 了。Xià yǔ le .It's raining.
• 你 胖 了。Nǐ pàng le .You are fat.

See also

• Expressing "now" with "le"
• Expressing "already" with "le"
• Expressing "not anymore" with "le"
• Uses of "le"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (p. 68) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 126-9) →buy
• Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar (pp. 238-99) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2) (pp. 217-8) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (pp. 64-5) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (p. 8) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课上册） (p. 239)→buy

Websites

• East Asia Student: 了 grammar: four kinds of 了 in Mandarin
• Chinesegrammar.info: Chinese le grammar summary (了)