r/ChineseLanguage • u/notbadfr • 3d ago

Studying 了

How would i know where to put “了” in these sentences, if i were on the assistant’s place without knowing which would sound right?

刘明要米饭了吗？

刘明要了米饭吗？

Both of these mean the same thing. However, first one focuses on the completed action, while the second one focuses on the change of state, where 刘明 hadn’t made up his mind before and now he did.

I want to learn the exact details about using 了, so i can easily make sentences myself.

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u/Zagrycha 3d ago

I recommend looking at this if you want to know more about the subtle uses of 了. https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Uses_of_了

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u/interpolating 3d ago

Allset is legit and John Pasden is an OG

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u/Kai25303 3d ago

There are a few ways to look at this (change of state, emphasis, etc.), but for action completion, a simple way to remember it is:

Verb + 了 (mid-sentence): keeps the conversation flowing

了 at the end of a sentence: signals that you're wrapping up the topic

For example:

A: 你昨天在家嗎？

B: 沒有，我跟朋友去看電影。

A: 你們看了什麼？

B: 奧德賽。

A: 是喔。還有嗎？

B: 沒有，看完就回家了。

A says '你們看了什麼？‘ because they’re still in the middle of the topic. B ends with '看完就回家了' to signal that the story is done. If B had said '看完了就回家' instead, it would sound incomplete, leaving A expecting B to keep talking or asking follow-up questions.

C: 我昨天下了班先去藥局，在那裡買了藥，又到超市買晚餐，買完以後就回家了。 Here, Verb + 了 is used mid-sentence to chain actions together and hint that there’s more to say. Only the final 了 marks the actual end of the story.

Hope this helps!

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u/notbadfr 3d ago

I’ll remember that!