64 - 了 - le (grammar)

 了 (le) is super important in Chinese. Here is a brief summary of the 3 mains usage of  了. Make sure you master them !

1. V + 了(right after the verb) + ...　。  ==> Short past, action finished.

我吃了饭。
wǒ chī le fàn 。
I ate and finished dinner.

2. 了 at the end of the sentence ==> Close past / change of status

他退休了。
tā tuì xiū le 。

He got retired (before he was not).

你终于到了。
nǐ zhōng yú dào le 。
Finally you came.

3. V + 了 + ... + 了。  ==> Short past, action continuing.

他吃了两个小时了。
tā chī le liǎng gè xiǎo shí le 。
He's been eating for 2 hours (and he's still eating).

Different focus point of 了 :

他去了北京。
tā qù le běi jīng 。
He went to Beijing (but we don't know if he is back or not).
--> This action of going is finished.

他去北京了。
tā qù běi jīng le 。
--> Focus on the change of status. Before he was here, but now he has moved there.

他去了北京了。
tā qù le běi jīng le 。
--> This action happened in the past and is still going on.

Vocab:

终于
zhōng yú
· finally
· at last
· in the end

参加
cān jiā
· to participate
· to take part