Chinese grammar is famously simple. However, some grammatical aspects are still difficult for my Mandarin Chinese students. In this lesson, I will help you understand one of these tricky aspects that you are likely to see on tests such as the HSK. What's so difficult about the particle "了 (le)"?
I often need to spend extra time teaching the many uses of the "了 (le)" to my classes. "了 (le)" is a frequently-used Chinese word and knowing its use is essential. When pronounced flat, like "le", it is used as a grammatical particle and does not actually have any meaning, but it still plays a very important role in a sentence. The character "了 (le)" can be divided roughly into two usages, one as a dynamic auxiliary word and the other as a tone auxiliary word.
"了 (le)" is an essential part of Mandarin Chinese grammar. Let's learn more today!
There are 3 main uses of "了 (le)" :
1. The completion of an event
A basic meaning of "了 (le)" is to indicate the completion of the event. It is not quite the same as the English past tense. In the English past tense, whether it is representative of modality or event, the past tense should be used as long as the event is in the past. However, the Chinese character "了 (le)" is used in past events instead of past modalities.
Tā yǐqián hěn tǎoyàn tā.
他以前很讨厌她。
He hated her in the past.
VS.
Tā chī wán le fàn.
他吃完了饭。
He had a meal.
As we can see in the first sentence, "hated her" shows a state, not the completion of a specific activity. Therefore, we don’t use "了 (le)" after the verb, or at all in this first example.
As for the second example, we learn of an activity that has been done, so we use "了 (le)."
2. To describe a sequence of events
Secondly, "了 (le)" shows the sequence in which two actions occur.
Wǒ xǐ le zǎo jiù shàngchuáng shuìjiào le.
我洗了澡就上床睡觉了。
After taking a shower, I went to bed.
3. Thirdly, as a sign of major events
Often, a sentence contains more than one event. We can divide these events into main events and secondary events, so we only need to... Read More
