The Use of Le了

Term: 108-1
Instructor: Cuifen Chen
了 after verbs to mean past tense

I. Subject. + verb + object +了

了 at the end of the sentence means the action has happened.

e.g. 我吃飯了。
This sentence means that the action of ‘eating’ has happened; however, it does not mean
that the person is done eating.
了 after verbs to mean past tense cont’d

II. Subject + Verb +了＋Object +了

This pattern indicates that the action is finished.

e.g. 我吃了飯了。
了 after verbs to mean past tense cont’d

III. Subject + verb +了 ＋ object…+ another action

我吃了飯就去看電視了。
e.g.

If we only speak the first part我吃了飯, it would sound strange.

In the previous three usages of le, the meaning of the sentence is

different when了 is in different position.
More use of了

 了 does not always go after the verbs; it can be used to describe a change of
a situation or the happening of a new status.

e.g.我肚子餓了。(You were not hungry moments ago, but now you are.)
e.g.我肚子餓 simply is to describe the fact that you are hungry.

e.g.電視壞了。(The television does not work.) (The TV worked, but now

it does not.)
e.g.我昨天生病， 今天好了。

e.g.你變瘦（shòu）了。（You have lost weight.)

More examples

 我明天不跟你們去吃飯了。(The speaker wanted to go in the first place, but

he changed his mind.)

 我明天不跟你們去吃飯。（This means the speaker never wants to go eat

with others.)

 要下雨了。（It has not rained yet, but it will soon.)

 我要走了。(I am leaving.)
 我要回家了。(I am going home soon, but has not gone home yet.)
 我快要回印尼了。
More use of le

 太 + adjective +了

太棒了
太貴了
太遠了
太舊了
More use of le

 Phrases like

對了 (By the way)

夠了gòule (Enough!)
好了 (O.K.; Done.)
吵死了chǎosǐle (Very noisy.)
了 in these phrases have no meaning.
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