Expressing duration with "le"

Saying how long you did something for in Chinese can seem tricky, as there is no preposition as in English. Instead it's all about word order:

Subject + Verb + 了 + Duration + Object

So 了 is placed after the verb, followed by the duration. This is how you talk about the duration of completed actions.

Some examples:

• 他 在 北京 住 了 两 年。
• 我 上 了 半 个 小时 网。
• 我 喝 了 三 个 小时 啤酒。