How to use 了
⋯⋯了
Sentence-final 了 can announce that the situation is now different from what it was or what the listener expected. With a descriptive predicate, it often presents a newly reached state rather than merely saying that a quality exists. With an action phrase, it can signal a change in activity, knowledge, or circumstances.
This function differs from the 了 attached to a verb to present an event as bounded or realized, although both may appear in one sentence. A negative statement can also end in 了 when a former condition no longer holds. The change may concern the present or an approaching situation, so do not translate the particle automatically as an English past tense.
Examples with pinyin and English
我饿了。
I'm hungry.
孩子们都累了。
The kids are all tired now.
妈妈老了。
Mom has gotten old.
你胖了。
You've gotten fat.
What to remember
- Read final 了 as a changed situation.
- Descriptive predicates can take this particle.
- Negative statements can announce a change too.
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Source and editorial notes
Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.