Chinese Grammar Core Course — Unit 09
Unit 09
Completed events with 了
了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.
Do not translate tense word for word. Choose whether you mean a completed event, an action in progress, a continuing state, an experience, an ability, or a comparison.
Do not translate word by word. First identify the main verb, then attach time, place, negation, or aspect in the order shown by the pattern.
Pattern to hear
我看了电影。我在看电影。我看过这部电影。
Meaning in context: I watched a film. I am watching a film. I have seen this film.
How to use it
了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.
他看了电影。下雨了。
Do not translate tense word for word. Choose whether you mean a completed event, an action in progress, a continuing state, an experience, an ability, or a comparison.
Do not translate word by word. First identify the main verb, then attach time, place, negation, or aspect in the order shown by the pattern.
Self-check
- How to use it
- Choose the viewpoint before the marker: completed event, current process, continuing state, experience, ability, or comparison.
- Build it yourself
- Retell yesterday, now, and a future plan with three different aspect or modal choices.
- Self-check
- Can you say why 不 and 没(有) are not interchangeable in your sentence?
Contrast and decision
For English speakers, the main adjustment is not basic SVO order but keeping time, place, aspect markers, and complements in their Chinese positions.
What to notice: Completed events with 了
More examples to read aloud
- 下雨了。
- 她正在打电话。
- 我去过中国。
Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.
Build it yourself
Tell two completed events from yesterday and one new situation now.
说一个完成的动作和一个新出现的变化。
Check the answer only after you have said or written your version.
Self-check
Model and reason
了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.
我写了作业。天黑了。
Read the pattern, cover the translation, and rebuild the sentence from its meaning. Return to the detailed articles for exceptions and nuance.