Kilo Lingo

Ch 1 · Lesson 7

Le completion vs change

Grammar for AP Chinese.

The short version

Where the (le) sits decides what it means

。Wǒ huì yóuyǒng le.

I can swim now (I couldn't before).
Why?

Straight after the verb, (le) says the action happened: (wǒ mǎi le sān běn shū), I bought three books. At the very end, it says something is new: (xiàyǔ le), it's started raining. Same particle, two slots, two jobs. Find the slot before you ask what it means.

(le) is not a past tense

wǒ yǐqián měitiān dōu pǎobù

I used to run every day
Why?

A past habit takes no (le): (wǒ yǐqián měitiān dōu pǎobù), I used to run every day. And (kuài xiàyǔ le), it's about to rain, is about the future with one sitting right there. Ask whether the action happened or something is new, never whether it is past.

(méi) drops the (le) after the verb

。Wǒ hái méi chī.

I haven't eaten yet.
Why?

(méi) says the action did not happen, so the (le) that says it did has to go: (wǒ méi chīfàn), never (wǒ méi chī le fàn). 'Not yet' is (hái méi), also with no (le): asked (nǐ chīfàn le ma), have you eaten, say (hái méi chī).

(kuài) + verb + (le): about to happen

。Kuài xiàyǔ le.

It's about to rain.
Why?

A final (le) can announce a change that has not happened yet. (kuài xiàyǔ le) is 'it's about to rain'; (wǒ yào zǒu le) is 'I'm off now'. (bù) + verb + (le) cancels a plan: (wǒ bú qù le), I'm not going after all.

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

Read the full article · 5 min read

Practice

Practise this lesson

10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 17 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 7 of 13 in this chapter

Back to the curriculum

What do the colours mean?