Difference between revisions of "Change of state with "le""

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* 我 有 钱 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ yǒu qián <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">I have money.</span>
 
* 我 有 钱 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ yǒu qián <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">I have money.</span>
 
* 他 笑 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Tā xiào <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">He's laughing.</span>
 
* 他 笑 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Tā xiào <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">He's laughing.</span>
* 没 有 水 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Méiyǒu shuǐ <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">We don't have any water.</span>
+
* 没 有 水 <em>了</em>。<span class="expl">(We had water before)</span><span class="pinyin">Méiyǒu shuǐ <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">We don't have any water.</span>
 
* 下 雨 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Xià yǔ <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">It's raining.</span>
 
* 下 雨 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Xià yǔ <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">It's raining.</span>
 
* 你 胖 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ pàng <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">You are fat. </span>
 
* 你 胖 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ pàng <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">You are fat. </span>

Revision as of 06:16, 12 August 2015

Chinese-grammar-wiki-le.jpg
Also known as: 了2, change-of-state 了, sentence 了 and modal 了.

了 (le) has many uses. You probably first learned 了 (le) as a particle that tells you an action is completed, which is also known as "了1." However, this article is not about that use of 了 (le); instead, it is 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 helpful examples.

Structure

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

[New Situation] + 了

Examples

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

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites