Finished Action

_THIS IS A TESTING BETA VERSION OF THE SITE_

I BOUGHT A CAR.

HE SAID THAT…

HE WENT TO CHINA.

Finished action is remotely equivalent to past tense and sometimes present perfect in English.

To indicate that the ACTION is finished, we put 了 /le/ right behind the verb.

ACTIONS are verbs like: TO BUY, TO GO, TO DRINK

ACTIONS aren’t verbs like: TO KNOW, TO WANT, TO FEEL

These are STATES and can’t be “finished”. They remain in the present form.

BASIC EXAMPLES

What movie did you watch?

你看了什么电影？

Nǐ kàn le shénme diànyǐng?

He went to China for work.

他去了中国工作。

<Tā qù le Zhōngguó gōngzuò.>

What happened to you?

你发生了什么事？

<Nǐ fāshēng le shénme shì?>

WORDS 生 WORDS 发

Where did you go?

你去了哪里？

Nǐ qù le nǎli?

MORE DIFFICULT SENTENCES

I have bought many Chinese books in China.

我在中国买了很多中文书。

<Wǒ zài Zhōngguó mǎi le hěnduō Zhōngwén shū.>

Yesterday I drank quite a lot of (not a little) Chinese tea.

我昨天喝了不少绿茶。

<Wǒ zuótiān hē le bù shǎo lǜchá.>

I told him but he wouldn't listen.

我给他说了，可是他不听。

<Wǒ gěi tā shuō le, kěshì tā bù tīng.>

I had a very interesting dream.

我做了很有意思的梦。

Wǒ zuòle hěn yǒuyìsi de mèng.

WORDS 意