Expressing duration of inaction

Saying how long you have done something is pretty simple in Chinese. Saying how long you have not done something is just as easy.

Structure

Expressing how long something has not been done is slightly different to expressing the duration of an action.

Subj. + Duration + 没 + Verb + Obj. + 了

So now the duration comes right after the subject and 了 is at the end of the sentence. The verb has to be negated with 没, as the action hasn't happened.

Examples

• 他 已经 三 天 没 洗澡 了。Tā yǐjīng sān tiān méi xǐzǎo le.He has already gone three days without showering.
• 我 两年 没 抽烟 了。Wǒ liǎng nián méi chōuyān le.It's been two years since I smoked.
• 你们 多长时间 没 回家 看 爸妈 了？ Nǐmen duō cháng shíjiān méi huíjiā kàn bàmā le? How long has it been since the last time you went back home to visit your parents？
• 我爷爷 去 了 台湾 以后 已经 三十年 没 回家了。 Wǒ yéye qù le Tàiwān yǐhòu, yǐjīng sānshí nián méi huíjiā le.It's been 30 years since my grandpa left home for Taiwan.
• 她 妈妈 去世 以后，她 都 两个 多 月 没 出门 了。 Tā māma qùshì yǐhòu, tā dōu liǎng gè duō yuè méi chūmén le.She hasn't been out for more than two months since her mother passed away .

In English, we may say something like "I haven't eaten since 9:00 this morning" or "I haven't been to China since the year 2000." Note that the Chinese do not tend to say somebody hasn't done something since a certain point in time. Instead, you should either express it as a duration of time that one hasn't done something (as in the above examples), or you can say "the last time somebody did something was [a certain point in time]".

• 我 已经 好几 个 小时 没 吃 东西 了。Wǒ yǐjīng hǎo jǐ gè xiǎoshí méi chī dōngxi le.I haven't eaten anything in several hours.
• 我 上次 来 中国 是 2000年。Wǒ shàngcì lái zhōngguó shì liǎngqiān nián.The last time I came to China was the year 2000. (Same meaning as "I haven't been to China since the year 2000.")

See also

• Expressing duration
• Expressing ongoing duration with double "le"
• Uses of le

Sources and Further Reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 231-2) →buy