Usos de 了

 Hola

 

 Frases armadas

    太 [adjective] 了
    [adjective] 极了 only used with positive adjectives
    [adjective] 死了 only used with negative adjectives
    可 [adjective] 了

太棒了！

Tài bàng le!

Fantastic!

这个盒子太大了。

Zhège hézi tài dà le.

This box is too big.

你的普通话好极了。

Nǐ de pǔtōnghuà hǎo jí le.

Your Mandarin is very good.

我们饿死了！

Wǒmen è sǐ le!

We're starving!

这只狗可臭了！

Zhè zhī gǒu kě chòule!  

¡Este perro huele feo!

 

Indica un cambio

7月了 

Ya es Julio (Literalmente: se volvió Julio)

10月了

Ya es Octubre (Literalmente: se volvió Octubre)

今天天晴了

他是老师了。

Tā shì lǎoshī le.

He's a teacher now.

她会走路了。

Tā huì zǒulù le.

She can walk now.

我结婚了！

Me casé

我胖了

他们分手了

他瘦了。
Tā shòu le.
He lost weight.

我决定不跟他说话了

天气冷了。 Tiānqì lěng le. The weather is now cold.

我不抽烟了。 Wǒ bù chōu yān le. I don’t smoke any more.

她是医生了。 Tā shì yīshēng le. She’s a doctor now.

他会开车了。 Tā huì kāichē le. He can drive a car now.
我不喝酒了。

Wǒ bù hējiǔ le.

I don't drink anymore.

他会用电脑了。

Tā huì yòng diànnǎo le.

He can use a computer now.

他们不住在这里了。

Tāmen bù zhù zài zhèlǐ le.

They don't live here anymore.

哇！你的西班牙语进步了

 

(1)周末他去逛街了。(Zhōumòtāqùɡuànɡjiē le.)

 He went shopping this weekend.

(2)下周三下了课，我把书给你。(Xiàzhōusānxiàlekè，wǒbǎshūɡěinǐ.)

 Next Wednesday, I’ll give you the book.

(3)我刚刚发现我的电脑被偷了。(Wǒɡānɡɡānɡfāxiànwǒdediànnǎobèitōu le.)

I discovered that my computer has been stolen just now.

(4)上课了，上课了。(Shànɡkè le，shànɡkè le.)

Class begins, class begins.

 

Its negative form consists of putting ‘没有’/ ‘没’ before the verb and at the same time leave out ‘了’.


(1)上课了。→没上课。(Shànɡkè le。→ Méishànɡkè.)

  Class begins.→ Class doesn’t begin.

(2)昨天我的自行车坏了。→昨天我的自行车没坏。

(Zuótiānwǒdezìxínɡchēhuàile.→Zuótiānwǒdezìxínɡchēméihuài.)

My bike broke yesterday.→ My bike did not break yesterday.

(3) —你吃饭了吗？(Nǐchīfàn le mɑ?)

—没吃。(Méichī.)

 

Acciones terminadas

我买了三个苹果

她给了我一本书

我把水喝完了

我买了一杯咖啡给你

我们走了两公里

Caminamos 2 kilómetros 

我早上骂了我的儿子

Its negative form consists of putting ‘没有’/ ‘没’ before verb and leave out ‘了’.

E.g.

(1)他没有去公园。(Tāméiyǒuqùɡōnɡyuán.)

He hasn’t gone to the park.

(2)妹妹没买那条裙子。(Mèimeiméimǎinàtiáoqúnzi.)

看了书，她就去睡觉。
Kàn le shū, tā jiù qù shuìjiào.
After having read, she goes to sleep.

看了书，她就去睡觉了。
Kàn le shū, tā jiù qù shuìjiào le.
After having read, she went to sleep.

他吃了饭就走。
Tā chī le fàn jiù zǒu.
After eating, he’ll go.

他吃了饭就走了。
Tā chī le fàn jiù zǒu le.
After eating, he went.

我妈妈吃了饭就吃药。
Wǒ māma chī le fàn jiù chī yào.
My mother eats and then takes her medicine.

我妈妈吃了饭就吃药了。
Wǒ māma chī le fàn jiù chī yào le.
My mother ate and then took her medicine.

The construction with jiù 就 can also refer to the future.

他们明天学了中文就去玩。
Tāmen míngtiān xué le zhōngwén jiù qù wán.
Tomorrow, after studying Chinese, they’ll go have a good time.

我后天看了比赛就到餐厅去吃饭。
Wǒ hòutiān kàn le bǐsài jiù dào cāntīng qù chī fàn.
After tomorrow, after watching the race I’ll go eat at the restaurant.

我明天做了练习就去打篮球。
Wǒ míngtiān zuò le liànxí jiù qù dǎ lánqiú.
Tomorrow, after doing the exercises, I’ll go play basketball.

 

 

了 no se usa necesariamente en pasado

你昨天做了什么？

我昨天去公园和朋友见面，然后我们看了一部电影。

No es necesario colocarle 了 a todas las frases. Incluso puedes evitar usar cualquier 了

 我昨天去公园和朋友见面，然后一起看电影。

Si quieres enfatizar algo que pasó,se recomienda usar 了

我今天在书店的时候，碰到了我的同事

Pasado

十年以前，我有一只狗

小时候，我很想当医生

我读大学的时候，常常去酒吧

Presente

你要走了吗？

¿Ya te vas?
 

Futuro

我明天下了班就给你打电话

客户来了我会通知你

我毕业了就去你的城市

我明天吃了饭就去你家

你长大了想做什么？

明年如果我赚了钱，我就去旅行

明天到了上海我要先去见我的老师

到了中国，给我写一封信
今天下了班以后你打算做什么？
明天下了班我们去吃韩国吧

我下班了给你打电话

你吃了午饭来我的办公室

No se usa 了 cuando usamos palabras de frecuencia 总是，常常，偶尔

我以前总是叫错他的名字

小时候他经常来这里买书

过去的几年这里很少下雪

Tampoco se usa con acciones psicológicas o de deseo como 希望，决定，喜欢

五岁的时候我希望以后当一位医生

当时我决定试一试

 

Doble 了 en una oración

Here are some examples of double 了 sentences. Note that these sentences nearly always include 已经 (already) to show what's been done up till now:

他已经吃了八碗面条了！

Tā yǐjīng chīle bā wǎn miàntiáo le!

He's eaten eight bowls of noodles!

你已经花了太多钱了！

Nǐ yǐjīng huāle tài duō qián le!

You've spent too much money!

他们已经跑了两个小时步了。

Tāmen yǐjīng pǎole liǎng gè xiǎoshí bù le.

They've been running for two hours.

我在他家里住了一年

Viví en su casa por 1 año

我在他家里住了一年了

He estado viviendo en su casa por 1 año

你已经喝了十一瓶啤酒了！ Nǐ hē le shíyī píng píjiǔ le! You’ve had eleven bottles of beer!

他已经睡了十个小时觉了。 Tā shuì le shí gè xiǎoshí jiào le. He’s been asleep for ten hours now.

你已经吃了太多了！ Nǐ yǐjīng chīle tài duō le! You’ve already eaten too much!
 

¿了 después del verbo o al final de la oración?

我昨天去看电影了

Cuando colocas contadores, números o palabras que representan cantidades, se pone 了 junto al verbo.

我昨天去看了一部电影

我唱了一首歌了

他看了一本书

我吃了三块蛋糕。 Wǒ chī le sān kuài dàngāo. I ate three pieces of cake.

我只睡了三个小时觉。 Wǒ zhǐ shuì le sān gè xiǎoshí jiào. I only slept for three hours.

如果你只睡了三个小时觉，一定会考试考得不好。 Rúguǒ nǐ zhǐ shuì le sān gè xiǎoshí jiào , yīdìng huì kǎoshì kǎo dé bù hǎo. If you’ve only slept for three hours, you certainly won’t do well in the exam.

你做了一个小时作业可以看电视。 Nǐ zuò le yīgè xiǎoshí zuòyè kěyǐ kàn diànshì. Once you’ve done your homework for an hour you can watch TV. 

他买了一点儿苹果

你看见了几个人？

Its negative form uses ‘没有’/ ‘没’ before the verb, and leaves out ‘了’. If there is a numerical word, it is usually left out also.

E.g.

(1)他没去医院。(Tāméiqùyīyuàn.)

 He hasn’t gone to the hospital.

(2)我没唱歌。(Wǒméichànɡɡē.)

 I haven’t sung. 

¿Por qué a veces 了 se lee liǎo?

Now we come to one final kind of 了 that isn't pronounced le. It's pronounced liǎo. This kind of 了 is completely and utterly different to the ones above. If you look up this liǎo 了 in a dictionary, you will that it means “finish” or “complete”.

It is not a particle like the le 了, but a verbal complement. This means that it's attached to verbs to give more information about the action. Liǎo 了 is used to indicate the potential for an action to be successful. That is, it indicates whether the action can or can't be done.

To do this, it's combined with either 得 (can) or 不 (can't). So 得了 after a verb means that the action can be done, whilst 不了 means that it can't. Here are some examples:

我做得了。

Wǒ zuò déliǎo.

I can do it.

我受不了。

Wǒ shòu bùliǎo.

I can't stand it.

我觉得他们来得了。

Wǒ juéde tāmen láidéliǎo.

I think they'll be able to make it.

这么多饭 - 你吃得了吗？

Zhème duō fàn - nǐ chī déliǎo ma?

There's so much food - can you eat it all?

你来得了吗？ Nǐ lái dé liǎo ma? Can you make it?

我看不了啊！ Wǒ kàn bù liǎo ā! I can’t see!

Hopefully you can see how 得了 and 不了 work as neat little units that are placed after verbs to indicate their potential.

When le grammar and liǎo grammar work together

Note that liǎo 了 can also appear together with sentence 了. This indicates that an action can now be done, or cannot be done anymore. In this pattern, the two 了s will appear side by side: 了了. If you see this, you know that it must be pronounced “liǎo le”.

Here are some examples:

我受不了了。

Wǒ shòu bùliǎo le.

I can't stand it anymore.

我吃不了了。

Wǒ chī bùliǎo le.

I can't eat any more food!

我瘦了这么多，这条裤子我现在穿得了了。

Wǒ shòule zhème duō, zhè tiáo kùzi wǒ xiànzài chuān déliǎole.

I've lost so much weight, I can wear these trousers now.

苹果买不了了！ Píngguǒ mǎi bùliǎo le! You can’t buy apples any more! _I.e._ Apples have sold-out!

 

 

1. When words which indicate that something happens frequently (like ‘每天’(měitiān), ‘经常(jīnɡchánɡ)’, ‘常常’(chánɡchánɡ) , ‘总是’(zǒnɡshì) etc.) appear, we don’t need to use ‘了’.

E.g.

我常常去图书馆看书。(Wǒchánɡchánɡqùtúshūɡuǎnkànshū.)

I often go to the library to read.

2. When verbs which indicate mental activities (like ‘想’(xiǎnɡ), ‘要’(yào), ‘打算’(dǎsuɑn), ‘希望’(xīwànɡ), ‘喜欢’(xǐhuɑn), ‘讨厌’(tǎoyàn ) etc.) appear, we can’t use ‘了’ behind the verb.

E.g.

我打算去云南旅游。(Wǒdǎsuɑnqùyúnnánlǚyóu.)

    I plan to go to Yunnan to travel.

*我打算去了云南旅游。(Wǒdǎsuɑnqùleyúnnánlǚyóu.) （×）

3. When the sentence indicates continuous action, to stress the continuity and compactness of the action, we could leave out ‘了’（le）.

E.g.

我起床穿好衣服打开门，走了出去。

（Wǒqǐchuánɡchuānhǎo yīfu dǎkāi mén，zǒu le chūqu.）

 I got up and put on my clothes, then opened the door and walked out. 、

4. When the speaker wants to emphasize a certain adverb in the sentence, then we can leave out ‘了’.

E.g.

前天吃面，昨天吃面，今天我不想吃面。

(Qiántiānchīmiàn，zuótiānchīmiàn，jīntiānwǒbùxiǎnɡchīmiàn.)

Today I don’t want to eat noodles, because I have eaten it yesterday and before yesterday.

5. When there is a modal verb before the verb, ‘了’ can only be used at the end of the sentence.

E.g.

我能说汉语。(Wǒnénɡshuōhànyǔ.)I can speak Chinese.

*我能说了汉语。(Wǒnénɡshuōlehànyǔ.)（×）

我能说汉语了。(Wǒnénɡshuōhànyǔ le.)I can speak Chinese.（√）

6. When there is a repeated monosyllabic verb in the sentence, ‘了’ should be placed between the repeated verbs.

E.g.

我闻了闻这盒牛奶。(Wǒwén le wénzhèhéniúnǎi.)

    I slightly smell this box of milk.

他想了想我的话。(Tā xiǎnɡ le xiǎnɡwǒdehuà.)

He thinks slightly of my words.