了 le, liǎo
HSK 1 character · 2 strokes · radical 亅 · traditional 瞭
Meanings
- (completed action marker)
- (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now)
- (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
- to finish
- (used with 得 or 不 after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了 "cannot forget")
- (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 无 or 不) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least
Words with 了
- 了 le: (completed action marker)
- 除了 chú le: apart from; besides; in addition to (used to exclude, as in 除了他，谁也没来 "apart from him, nobody came", or to include, as in 除了英语，他也会法语 "in addition to English, he also knows French")
- 了解 liǎo jiě: to understand
- 为了 wèi le: for; for the purpose of; in order to
- 受不了 shòu bù liǎo: unbearable
Grammar: Completed actions with 了
Verb + 了 + (Quantity) + Object
了 right after a verb says the action is done. It marks completion, not past tense, so it is not used for every past event. When the object has a number or a length of time, 了 goes right after the verb. To say something did not happen, use 没 before the verb and drop 了.
Grammar: Change of state with 了
Statement + 了
At the end of a sentence, 了 says that a situation is new: something is true now that was not true before. 下雨了 is "it has started raining", not just "it rains". It works with adjectives, ages and times too.
Example sentences
她来了！
She's coming!
Tatoeba #333982 by fucongcong (CC BY 2.0 FR)
来了!
I'm coming!
Tatoeba #11508919 by megamanenm (CC BY 2.0 FR)
饭好了
Food's ready!
Tatoeba #12184136 by valhentai (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Meanings and readings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0).