Grammar

语法

Sentence ending “

了

”

了

can be added to virtually any statement. These sentences offer an explanation while

adding the implication of some form of change or a reversal of a previous situation. They
suggest that what is stated represents a change from what existed or what was happening
before.

Consider the following two sentences:

她喝了一瓶啤酒。

She had a bottle of beer.

(aspect particle

了

, placed immediately after the verb)

她喝了一瓶啤酒了。

She’s had a bottle of beer. (She’s had one bottle of beer.)

(Sentence ending

了

, placed at the end of a sentence)

The first is a flat statement and the meaning implied by

了

is that the action of

喝

‘to

drink’ has been completed. In other words, the action of drinking a bottle of beer has
already taken place. The sentence hence encodes a narrative. The second on the other
hand, is much more animated with almost certainly stress on the word ‘

一瓶啤酒

’

，

and

the end of sentence

了

conveys the sense that a new or an updated situation of ‘drinking a

bottle of beer’ has happened for someone who probably will continue to drink more beer.

If the first example resembles a past tense in English, the second example is more like a
present perfect. The aspect indicator

了

in the first sentence belongs to the realm of

narration while the sentence ending

了

in the latter is a pointer to exposition.

More examples:

妹妹會説話了。

(the younger sister can speak now – she was too young to say anything

before)

我病了。

(I’m sick – I was not sick before)

我的病好了。

(I’m fine now – I was sick these past few days)

他上大學了。

(He goes to college now – he was still in HS when I saw him last time)

他不愛你了。

(He doesn’t love you any more – he loved you before)