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

I've bought a lot of things.

我买了很多东西。

<Wǒ mǎi le hěn duō dōngxi.>

How many drinks did you drink?

你喝了几杯啤酒？

Nǐ hēle jǐ bēi píjiǔ?

I fell in love with her.

我爱上了她。

<Wǒ àishang le tā.>

What happened to you?

你发生了什么事？

<Nǐ fāshēng le shénme shì?>

WORDS 生 WORDS 发

MORE DIFFICULT SENTENCES

We got used to a safe life environment.

我们习惯了安全的生活环境。

Wǒmen xíguànle ānquán de shēnghuó huánjìng.

WORDS 生 SAFE - DANGEROUS

He gave me a very expensive present.

他送了我很贵的礼物。

<Tā sòng le wǒ hěn guì de lǐwù.>

礼 RITUAL 物 OBJECT

I discussed many things with him.

我跟他谈了很多事。

<Wǒ gēn tā tán le hěn duō shì.>

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.>