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

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* 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>
* 我 明白 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ míngbai <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">I understand.</span>
+
* 妈妈 老 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Māma lǎo <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">Mom is old.</span>
 
* 你 胖 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ pàng <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">You've gotten fat. </span>
 
* 你 胖 <em>了</em>。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ pàng <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">You've gotten fat. </span>
 
* 家里 没有 牛奶 <em>了</em>。<span class="expl">(We had milk before)</span><span class="pinyin">Jiālǐ méiyǒu niúnǎi <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">We don‘t have any milk at home.</span>
 
* 家里 没有 牛奶 <em>了</em>。<span class="expl">(We had milk before)</span><span class="pinyin">Jiālǐ méiyǒu niúnǎi <em>le</em>.</span><span class="trans">We don‘t have any milk at home.</span>

Revision as of 05:45, 29 September 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

  • 下 雨 Xià yǔ le.It's raining.
  • 妈妈 老 Māma lǎo le.Mom is old.
  • 你 胖 Nǐ pàng le.You've gotten fat.
  • 家里 没有 牛奶 (We had milk before)Jiālǐ méiyǒu niúnǎi le.We don‘t have any milk at home.
  • 爸爸 今年 50 岁 Bàba jīnnián wǔshí suì le.Dad is 25 years old this year.
  • 手机 没电 Shǒujī méidiàn le.The phone is power off.
  • 宝宝 会 说话 (He couldn't before)Bǎobao huì shuōhuà le.The baby can speak.
  • 你哥哥 有 女朋友 吗? (He didn't have one before)Nǐ gēge yǒu nǚpéngyou le ma?Does your elder brother have a girlfriend?
  • 小女孩 有点 想 妈妈 (She didn't before now)Xiǎonǚhái yǒudiǎn xiǎng māmā le.The kid sort of miss her mom.
  • 我 男朋友 找到 新 工作 Wǒ nánpéngyou zhǎo dào xīn gōngzuò le.My boyfriend find a new job.


See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites