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A2 · Grammar reference

Expressing duration with "le"

Whether you need to express how long you lived somewhere, how long you studied astrophysics, or how long you worked as a mime, you'll need to use 了 (le) to express that time duration.

Structure

Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.

Subj. + Verb + 了 + Duration + 的 + Obj.

Subj. + [Time Word] + Verb + 了 + Duration + Obj.

Keywords
了
Used for
Expressing duration · Referring to the past · Expressing time and date
Classification
Verbs · HSK3

Examples (11)

他学了一年中文。

我看了一个晚上书。

他做了八年经理。

我们坐了十五个小时的飞机。

奶奶看了一天的电视。

妈妈洗了一上午的衣服。

孩子们周六写了一天的作业。

我刚才打了半个小时电话。

我昨天玩了一晚上游戏。

他昨天开了一天的车。

老板今天开了一下午的会。

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Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

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